After introducing road tax waiver for electric vehicles in 2020, the UT administration on Thursday issued a notification exempting even hybrid vehicles, along with electric vehicles, from paying road tax for the next five years.
According to a notification issued by the UT transport department, road tax will be waived on battery-operated vehicles of all categories, and electric and hybrid vehicles (strong hybrid and plug-in hybrid) from March 18, 2023, to March 17, 2028.
Nitin Mehan, secretary, Federation of Automobile Dealers’ Association, Chandigarh said the cost of hybrid vehicles ranged between ₹18 lakh and ₹1 crore. The road tax on a vehicle worth ₹18 lakh vehicle comes to around ₹78,000, he added.
The administration had notified the Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy 2022 in September last year to make Chandigarh a “Model EV City” by achieving zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) among all Indian cities by the end of the five-year policy period.
To promote EVs, the administration had decided not to levy registration fee and road tax for five years, while owners of vehicles running on conventional fuels have to pay both.
Also an incentive ranging from ₹3,000 to ₹2 lakh is being offered for up to 42,000 vehicles of different categories, including 25,000 e-cycles, 10,000 e-bikes and 3,000 e-cars, purchased between September 20, 2022, and September 19, 2027.
{{/usCountry}}Also an incentive ranging from ₹3,000 to ₹2 lakh is being offered for up to 42,000 vehicles of different categories, including 25,000 e-cycles, 10,000 e-bikes and 3,000 e-cars, purchased between September 20, 2022, and September 19, 2027.
{{/usCountry}}The aim is to encourage people to switch to EVs for lesser carbon footprint and make Chandigarh carbon neutral at the earliest.
While 3,000 EVs were registered in Chandigarh between 2017 and 2022, since the EV policy was rolled out, 420 e-cars, 1,233 e-bikes and 2,036 hybrid cars have been registered in the city.