Despite the announcement of a dedicated electric vehicle policy that targets 15 per cent electric vehicle penetration by 2025, Meghalaya is yet to see much improvement in electric mobility.
Meghalaya plans to have around 20,000 electric vehicles within a five-year period. Under the Meghalaya electric vehicle policy, the State government will provide incentives to a limited number of early electric vehicle adopters.
However, since the policy was launched in March last year, the State currently has only 28 electric vehicles of which 16 are two-wheelers, six three-wheelers, three four-wheelers and three goods vehicles.
According to official data, in the North East region, Assam has the most electric vehicles at 47,947. It is followed by Tripura at 7,593, Sikkim at 2,425, Manipur at 540 and Nagaland at 171. Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have 20 electric vehicles each.
The Meghalaya Electric Vehicle Policy 2021 came into effect from April 1, 2021, and will be operational for the next five years.
As the policy claims, this move will save about 50 lakh litres of fuel, resulting in a reduction of about 10,000 kg of CO2 emission daily. This means the policy will help in reducing more than 36.5 lakh kg of CO2 emission per year.
According to the Meghalaya electric vehicle policy, the government will offer a purchase subsidy of Rs10,000 per KWH for the first 3,500 electric two-wheelers, Rs 4,000 per KWH for the first 200 electric three-wheelers, 2,500 electric four-wheelers, and 30 electric buses that will be purchased and registered in the State during the policy period.
The State electric vehicle policy also claims that as of October 31, 2020, the State with only six electric vehicles saved 1,568 liters of fuel and a reduced 3,901 kg of CO2 emission.
The policy claims that various steps have been taken to ensure that electric vehicles get priority over internal combustion engine-powered vehicles. This has been done to encourage the use of electric vehicles to protect the environment and steadily cut the reliance on fuel import, the policy further claims.
Under the electric vehicle policy, the Meghalaya transport department has identified the tourism sector for the use of these EVs in the first phase. In some of the tourist spots these electric vehicles would be used exclusively, claims the policy.
Considering the fact that to promote electric mobility, the electric vehicle charging infrastructure plays an important role, the Meghalaya government has decided to facilitate the setting up of charging stations at various state government facilities, and commercial buildings such as hotels, shopping malls, cinema halls, and apartments.
