Odisha government announces subsidy to push Electric Vehicles shift in state
BHUBANESWAR: The State government on Saturday announced to provide subsidy for purchase of electric vehicles to push their sales and promote EV adoption by consumers.
The subsidy will be a maximum 15 per cent (pc) on purchase and use of the vehicles in two wheeler, public or shared and goods carriers segments, Minister for Commerce and Transport Padmanabha Behera told mediapersons here.
He said though a tentative decision has been taken for extending 15 pc subsidy, the amount and cap will be finalised soon.
While maximum subsidy of Rs 5,000 is likely to be provided on purchase of two wheelers, Rs 10,000 will be given in case of three wheelers, the Minister said, adding that subsidy of Rs 50,000 will be provided on purchase of four wheelers.
“In case of the purchase of electric buses, the subsidy can go up to Rs 4 lakh,” he added.
The State Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had approved the Electric Vehicle Policy-2021 on Friday. The government’s policy does not have any link with the Centre’s FAME-II scheme for electric vehicles, Behera said, adding that it is a completely separate initiative.
The Central scheme offers subsidy of Rs 15,000 per kWh battery capacity on two-wheelers and Rs 10,000 per kWh battery capacity on four wheelers.
The Centre has also announced Rs 10,000 crore for three years till 2022 for FAME-II scheme which includes Rs 1,000 crore for setting up charging stations.
However, no provision has been made in the Odisha Budget 2021-22 on these lines.
On providing charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, the Minister said the EV companies will set up the stations after approval from the government.
Behera said it is now necessary to reduce emissions caused by different categories of vehicles plying on the road using the traditional fossil fuels.
The objective of the policy is to achieve adoption of 20 pc battery electric vehicles in all vehicle registrations by 2025.
The government has announced incentives like cut in registration fees and other taxes to achieve the target and encourage people to purchase electric vehicles, the Minister said.