Maharashtra postpones EV policy by a year

Maharashtra, the first state to design and notify an Electric Vehicles policy, has now decided to hold the policy for a year.

As said in the policy draft: “Starting April 2022, all new govt. vehicles (owned/leased) operating within the major cities to be electric.”

Various government departments had objected to the proposal, citing lack of charging stations for these vehicles across the state.

Departments also raised issues about how the EVs would perform in isolated areas, where road networks are inadequate. Considering these issues, the Maharashtra Environment Department issued a GR declaring the government agencies might now defer the purchase of these EVs until April 2023.

According to reports few EVs were purchased last year, there are too many limitations to charge such vehicles. It will take some time to adjust to a new system and there is a need for charging stations in government officers’ homes so that charging can be done efficiently.

Maharashtra, while introducing the new EV policy had said, “The updated Maharashtra EV Policy aims to capitalise on the recent policy and technology developments and further the state’s EV ambition.”

“The policy suggests strong demand- and supply-side measures to increase the BEV penetration in the state. The policy plans to aggressively target state’s five Urban Agglomerations (UAs)2 (with a high share of PM2.5 emissions) to become lighthouse regions in EV adoption,” it added.

The aim was to accelerate the adoption of EVs in a way that these contribute to 10% of all new vehicles by 2025.