CHENNAI: The state government on Tuesday came out with a revised e-vehicle policy to make Tamil Nadu the preferred destination for manufacturing electric vehicle (EV) in southeast Asia, and attract Rs 50,000 crore investment and create 1.5 lakh jobs over the next five years.
The policy launched by Chief Minister M K Stalin also aims to promote Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchy, Madurai, Salem, and Tirunelveli as pilot cities for implementing e-mobility solutions. A smart city commissioner will be appointed in each of these cities as nodal officer to coordinate and drive EV adoption.
Tamil Nadu has also set a target to increase the share of electric buses in state transport undertakings by 30 per cent in a phased manner by 2030. The last e-vehicle policy lapsed on December 30, 2022. The new policy seeks to strengthen the EV manufacturing value chain, improve EV adoption across vehicle segments, increase electric public mobility solutions, improve green electricity value chain, promote rapid EV infrastructure development, and leverage the synergies of existing research and development centres in the state. Major relief has also been planned for TN electric vehicle users in the proposed power tariff revision.
The Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) has fixed tariff for public charging stations one step above commercial entities. “The government shall undertake a revision of tariffs with due approval from the TNERC. There will be a reduction of existing charges by 75 per cent for the first two years and thereafter by 50 per cent for the subsequent two years,” the new policy said.
The other major announcement is the reduction of charges by 50 per cent between 8 am and 4 pm to incentivise charging during non-peak hours to promote the usage of renewable energy for EV charging.
State introduces ‘green tariff ’ for HT services
The state has also introduced a renewable energy-based ‘green tariff’ for HT services. The green tariff would be an additional 10 per cent over the HT category’s respective tariffs.
The state also plans to develop a roadmap to electrify public and institutional fleets operating in the state. Apart from electrifying vehicles of state transport undertaking through loan from multilateral agencies, the state shall also explore the possibility of providing bus charging infrastructure for private operators.
Vehicular fleets of educational institutions such as schools and colleges and private bus fleets, including staff bus operators for industrial establishments, would be encouraged to embrace EV system in a gradual manner. Aggregators shall be encouraged to partner with e-mobility providers and EV manufacturers to phase out Internal Combustion Engine vehicles (ICE) vehicles from their fleet.
Sivasubramaniam Jayaraman, National Lead - Electric Mobility and Transport Systems, Senior Programme Manager, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy told TNIE that the revised policy has comprehensively addressed the cause of electrification of public transport and shared mobility.
"ITDP has been a part of the policy revision which was done through a consultative process with inputs from private sectors- OEMs, bus operators, charging infrastructure providers and financial institutions. The charging infrastructure piece which was missing in the previous policy has also been included with a focus to promote the electrification of private public transport services," he said.
"It is also good to see incentives for electric cycles. Very soon electric cycles are going to be new-age alternatives for ICE two Wheelers. As the next step govt should focus and strategise the implementation of the policy by creating state-level guidelines and roadmaps to meet EV30@2030 targets,” he added.
Green road
281 Under FAME II, a total of 281 charging stations have been sanctioned for Tamil Nadu
TN Combined Development and Building Rules will be amended in line with Model Building Bylaws (MBBL) 2016 for EV charging infrastructure.
The first 200 public battery swapping stations set up in TN will be eligible for a capital subsidy of 25 per cent for the purchase of equipment and machinery limited to L2 lakh per station. First 50 e-aggregator private charging stations shall be eligible for a capital subsidy of 25 per cent for the purchase of equipment and machinery.