Amid the big push for Electric Mobility in the country, Maharashtra Government has updated its EV Policy. With the revised EV policy, the State Govt aims to accelerate the adoption of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) to 10% of the total new vehicles registrations by 2025. Additionally, the state wants to achieve 25% electrification of Public Transport and last-mile delivery in 6 target urban areas by 2025(Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Aurangabad, and Nashik) along with the conversion of 15% of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation’s (MSRTC) existing bus fleet to electric. It also wants to initiate the development of 2375 public and semi-public charging stations in 7 major urban areas and 4 national highways. From April 2022, all new government vehicles in the state will be Electric Vehicles.
Additional Chief Secretary (Transport) Ashish Singh said “We also intend to make Maharashtra the top producer of battery-driven EVs in India in terms of annual production capability. Another target laid down in the new policy was to establish one gigawatt of battery manufacturing capability in the state.”
As per the notification, the state government will give incentives to generate demand and incentivize the production of Electric vehicles and associated infrastructure. Property tax rebated will be offered for installing private charging infrastructure within society premises, all EVs sold in the state will be exempted from road tax and registration charges. Incentives will also be given for setting up advanced chemistry cell battery manufacturing plants. Maharashtra has stated it is targeting the establishment of at least one Gigafactory and has also welcomed a facility for manufacturing hydrogen fuel cells. Recently, Reliance Industries had announced it will set up a hydrogen fuel cell Gigafactory in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
The state government is offering incentives for demand generation of EVs with Electric 2Wheelers getting incentives between INR 29,000 to 44,000, Electric 3Wheelers to get incentives between INR 57,000 and 92,000, while Electric 4wheelers will get incentives between INR 1,75,000 to 2,75,000. The State will also be offering incentives for setting up charging infrastructure to the tune of INR 10,000 per PCS for Slow charging and INR 5,00,000 per PCS for moderate to fast charging setups.
Reacting to the Maharashtra EV Policy Sohinder Gill, CEO Hero Electric & Director General, SMEV said, “With the amendment of FAME 2 by the central government and now the individual state policies like this one have only encouraged the adoption of electric vehicles in India. The added subsidies from the government on batteries and overall vehicles apart from encouraging battery makers to invest in the state will only aid to the growing interest among investors and companies looking to make an entry into the manufacturing of parts for the segment. At Hero, we are looking forward to this new phase of Electric mobility that will be driven with the states and the consumers who are looking up to a green, clean mode of transport.”