With fuel prices remaining at an all-time high, the sale of electric vehicles in the State has skyrocketed and recorded a 158 per cent growth even without the government offering any additional incentives to opt for e-vehicles like in New Delhi and Gujarat.
With a litre of petrol and diesel being sold at Rs 102.49 and Rs 94.39 respectively, the demand for battery-operated vehicles, particularly, scooters, has gone up.
According to the VAHAN dashboard, till date, 15,057 electric vehicles have been registered in the State as against the 5,696 e-vehicles registered in 2020. A two-wheeler dealer in the city said that the sale of battery-operated scooters has increased manifold this year thanks to fuel price hikes and enhanced subsidy bringing down the prices.
The price of mid-range and premium e-two wheelers including Ather, Hero and Okinawa has reduced the product prices by Rs 18,000 to Rs 20,000 after the Union Ministry of Heavy Industry revised the incentive for electric two-wheelers by increasing to Rs 15000 per kilowatt the battery capacity from Rs 5000 per kWh. The dealer added that a few State governments like Delhi and Gujarat have announced additional incentives of Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000 based on the battery capacity. “Even without any such additional incentives, we are witnessing a strong demand for e-scooters in the city. If TN comes out with a scheme to promote pollution-free e-scooters, it will further boost the sales and reduce vehicular pollution,” the dealer added.
A senior Transport Department official said that the State has exempted battery-operated vehicles from payment of motor vehicles tax till the end of 2022 to promote e-vehicles.
