Maharashtra government announces new EV policy

Maharashtra government has announced a new electric vehicle (EV) policy which sets a course to make EVs 10 per cent of all new vehicle registrations by 2025. The policy plans to attract and benefit not only the consumers but EV manufacturing companies and industry as well. This step is taken to ensure increased production of EVs and strengthening the EV infrastructure in the state with the hopes of making Maharashtra country’s top producer of battery electric vehicles (BEV) in annual production capacity.

What are the major introductions?
The new EV policy targets to achieve 25 per cent electrification of public transport and last-mile delivery vehicles by the year 2025. This is set to target cities like Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Amravati and Nagpur.

The policy also mentions that all new government vehicles in the state will be electric vehicles from April 2022. The state government in an attempt to make Maharashtra the top producer of BEVs also plans to establish at least one Gigafactory for manufacturing advanced chemistry cell (ACC) batteries.

In addition to the electrification of public transport, the policy also mentions converting 15 per cent of MSRTC buses to EVs. The policy makes it mandatory for urban fleet companies, like e-commerce, delivery and logistics companies to adopt EV to at least 25 per cent of their urban fleet in the state by 2025.

What are the subsidies and benefits for the consumers?

The policy states plenty of benefits for the buyers with incentive rates set at Rs 5,000/kWh battery capacity till the end of the year. The price incentives on two-wheelers will be up to Rs 10,000, double the earlier amount. On three-wheelers, the price incentives have been increased to a maximum of Rs 30,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh on cars and SUVs. The price incentives on goods carriers and busses have increased to a maximum of to Rs 1 lakh and Rs 20 lakh respectively.

The policy states that all EVs sold in Maharashtra will be exempted from road tax and EVs eligible under the policy will be exempt from registration charges. Other than the usual incentives, the state has also announced an early bird discount on buying a new EV before December 2021.

For the convenience of the consumers, the incentives will be available upfront for the buyers by the vehicle manufacturer itself, rather than the state government.

To build an entire EV ecosystem in the state and facilitate the switch to EVs, the policy offers scrappage incentives that are Rs 7000 for two-wheelers, Rs 15,000 for three-wheelers and Rs 25,000 for four-wheelers.

Charging Infrastructure

The policy suggests tax rebates for all charging infrastructure, even in residential societies for private charging infrastructure on their premises. In addition to that, public charging stations (PCS) get an incentive of Rs 10,000 per PCS unit for slow and Rs 5 lakh per PCS unit for moderate and fast-charging stations. The policy also states that the new residential projects are to provide dedicated charging spaces in the parking for EV.

The plans for a better charging infrastructure according to the policy targets 1500 charging stations for the Mumbai metropolitan region, 500 stations in Pune, 150 stations in Nagpur and Nashik, 75 in Aurangabad, 30 in Amaravati and 20 charging stations in Solapur. A set target to achieve 2350 charging stations across these seven urban agglomerates.

The budget provisions amount to Rs 930 crore for incentives allocation over four years. With prices of EVs reducing and incentives planned out according to the policy, it surely seems to benefit not just the consumers but the EV industry in Maharashtra and facilitate the adoption of EVs in the state.