Telangana Brings Out 10-Year EV Policy

• The policy aims to make the state a hub for electric vehicles and energy storage systems
• It aims to attract private investments worth $4 billion in the EV sector and create employment for 120,000 people by 2030

The Telangana state government launched the ‘Telangana Electric Vehicle & Energy Storage Policy’ . It aims to attract private investments worth $4 billion in the EV sector and create employment for 120,000 people by 2030 through shared mobility, charging infrastructure development, and manufacturing activities.

The policy incentivises EV and ESS sectors as per the subsidies and incentives available under the Electronics Policy 2016. Telangana ministers KT Rama Rao and Ajay Kumar were present at the launch of the policy. It will be effective for ten years from the date of notification and will be reviewed by the Steering Committee as notified in the policy.

Rama Rao said after unveiling the policy that Telangana has come out with an extremely comprehensive policy. The government has ensured that the energy storage policy is clubbed with the EV policy because these two are tight-knit ideas which need to work cohesively.

Electronics Manufacturing Clusters

There are incentives for manufacturing of electric vehicles, energy storage systems and related components in Telangana through capital subsidies, SGST reimbursements, power tariff subsidies, etc. The policy notifies 100 per cent exemption of road tax and registration fee for the first 2lakh electric two-wheelers and first 20,000 electric three-wheelers purchased and registered within Telangana.

A retro-fitment incentive has also been provided at 15 per cent of the retro-fitment cost capped at Rs 15,000 per vehicle for the first 5,000 retrofit 3-seater auto rickshaws. The policy further stated that financing institutions will be encouraged to provide a hire-purchase scheme at discounted interest rates. In the electric four-wheeler segment, there is a 100 per cent exemption of road tax and registration fee for the first 5,000 units purchased and registered in the state. The first 500 buses are also given this exemption, and State Transport Units will also be encouraged to purchase electric buses.

Special power tariff category for EV charging stations

As per the policy, investment of more than Rs 200 crore in plant and machinery or providing employment to more than 1,000 people shall be categorised as mega project. It added that Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC) and Industrial Parks are identified for promotion of EV & Energy Storage manufacturing companies. Presently, EMCs are there at Raviryal and Maheshwaram, a designated industrial park at Divitapally for Energy Storage manufacturing, with additional parks are being designated

The EV policy also talked about the government facilitating setting up of an initial batch of fast charging stations in Hyderabad and other towns in a phased manner, by state entities and private players. Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission will provide a special power tariff category for EV charging stations. TSREDCO (State Nodal Agency) has been given the duty to evaluate directly or under the licensee/franchise/PPP model the establishment of public charging stations.

A viable business model will be developed for private players to set up ARAI-compliant EV charging/swapping infrastructure. As per the policy, a dedicated facility will be developed to house EV R&D centres by domestic and global EV majors. It is expected to attract global R&D activities on other emerging mobility trends such as connected and autonomous vehicles.

The state government will also partner with technical institutes and research institutions to establish in the state centres of excellence for conducting market-focused research on battery technologies, battery management, motors and controllers.The Government also signed MoUs with five firms which are set to invest in the EV space.