After backlash, Chandigarh relaxes cap on registration of non-electric two-wheelers

Mayor Anup Gupta told The Indian Express that officers had no answer when he asked them how Chandigarh would attain carbon neutrality when it could not stop non-electric vehicles from entering the Union Territory from neighbouring states.

“They have relaxed the cap to 25 per cent this year. But they had no answer when I asked how they can achieve the target when vehicles from neighbouring states are coming in,” he said.

As the mayor had announced that he would sit at the border and would not allow any non-electric vehicle to come in, the Union Territory held a mid-term review of the policy as the two-wheeler registrations were to end next week.

By July 6, the registrations of fuel-based two-wheelers was to be banned in Chandigarh as the administration said the registration target of 30 per cent for non-electric two-wheelers had been achieved. Only 6,202 fuel-based two-wheelers could be registered and the target was about to be met by July 6.

The administration, in an effort to declare itself a model electric vehicle city and the city with highest vehicle density, rolled out its electric vehicle policy in September 2022, setting a target for every year to phase out fuel-based vehicles—both two-wheelers and four-wheelers. By next year, the registration of fuel-based two-wheelers will be entirely banned. The registration of fuel-based four-wheelers will also be reduced considerably.

Minimum achievable targets were set for each year for the registration of electric vehicles. For this year, it said that it would stop the registration of fuel-based two-wheelers by July 6 or 7 and four-wheelers by December.

According to the targets, in the first year of the policy, there was to be a 10 per cent reduction in new four-wheelers and 35 per cent reduction in new two-wheelers, compared with the preceding year.

The targets for 2023-24 was a 20 per cent reduction in new four-wheelers and 70 per cent in new two-wheelers. Similarly, in years three, four and five, the target is 100 per cent for electric two-wheelers and electric three-wheelers. Which means that from 2024 onwards, the registration of fuel-based two-wheelers and autorickshaws will be completely stopped. For personal electric cars, it is 30 per cent, 40 per cent and 50 per cent for 2024, 2025 and 2026, respectively. For electric buses, the target set for the fifth year is 100 per cent, meaning that the registration of all fuel-based buses will be entirely stopped.