The Tamil Nadu government has issued an order that permits shall be given for battery-operated vehicles and vehicles driven on ethanol and methanol as transport vehicles without collecting any fee.
“All battery-operated transport vehicles and also vehicles driven on methanol and ethanol fuel (except goods vehicles whose gross vehicle weight is below 3000 kg) should be issued permit without payment of any fee,” said the order.
The government order is all set to pave the way for registration of battery-operated vehicles as transport vehicles in the state. So far, electric vehicles were being registered only as personal vehicles in the state. The battery-operated transport vehicle registration was not done in the state as such vehicles without permits would create issues.
The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, in its order dated October 18, 2018, exempted e-vehicles from getting permits for commercial operations. However, the state transport department felt that if the order was implemented, it would face field problems and regulation issues due to the operation of such vehicles without a permit.
Since the permit comes with a set of conditions, including the area of operations, there would be regulation of such vehicles.
“For proper regulations and also to avoid unnecessary confusion among the operators, the transport commissioner has requested that all the battery-operated transport vehicles and also vehicles driven on methanol and ethanol fuel meant to be used as transport vehicles shall be issued the permit without payment of any permit fee,” said the order.
Under the electric vehicle policy 2023, the state government has implemented a measure to distinguish EVs with number plates to be exhibited in yellow colour on a green background for transport vehicles and white colour on green background for all other EVs.
As of date, the state has around 1.90 lakh e-vehicles. At a roundtable organised by Guidance Bureau Tamil Nadu on June 16, 2023, members of the EV industry apprised Minister for Industries TRB Rajaa of this issue.
The minister immediately requested the intervention of Chief Minister MK Stalin, who in turn instructed that appropriate orders be issued at the earliest for facilitative regulation to make battery-operated shared passenger vehicles operational on the ground.
“Based on feedback from the industry, we are also working on improving EV charging infra across Tamil Nadu. All these steps are sure to significantly drive up the demand for EV vehicles in the state,” Rajaa said.
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