Maharashtra Government annunciated its reformed EV policy on Tuesday. It has offered to make changes in the development control rules (DCR) to cultivate the setting up of the charging infrastructure at parking lots of housing societies and corporate parks.
State Environment and Climate Change Minister, Aaditya Thackeray said, “We want to install charging stations to be set up at parking lots of housing societies, building premises, corporate parks and thus proposed changes in DCR, which is part of our policy. People would like to have charging stations close to their homes which will promote the use of electric vehicles in the state,” while he revealed the policy which was cleared by the state cabinet. The Maharashtra State Electric Vehicle Policy 2021 states that “Urban local bodies will be encouraged to provide property tax rebates to residential owners for installing private charging infrastructure within their premises. Details will be announced soon,”
An official also added, “The developer is likely to be allowed floor space index (FSI) against the space used for charging stations so that they won’t have to face financial losses,”
Thackeray also said that that charging isn’t as big of a problem because the solutions are bound to come around due to the eventual increase in demand for EVs. The Environment Minister also added, “The charging technology is constantly changing. With the new technology in place, vehicles can be charged with normal sockets and with the desired speed. Hence, it would be better if private charging stations are promoted. Apart from them, charging stations at government and corporation places will remain available. Bus depots can also be used for the same,”
The revised policy delivers us that the state aspires to set up 1,500 charging stations in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), 500 in Pune, 150 in Nagpur, 100 in Nashik, 75 in Aurangabad, 30 in Amravati, and 20 in Solapur city. It plots to set up at least one public charging station in a 3 km x 3 km grid, said Ashish Kumar Singh, the additional Chief Secretary of Transport Department.
He also added, by the year 2025, the state aims to provide a full-scale infrastructure for EVs on four of the major highways, Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway, Mumbai-Pune Express Highway, Mumbai-Nashik, and Nashik-Pune Highway.
Maharashtra was one of the very first states to unveil the EV policy in February 2018. However, it faced a few bumps in the road and couldn’t be implemented effectively for the very reasons of the subsequent changes made by the various central government departments.
The reform policy will abide by until March 31, 2025.
