The right time to buy EVs in Telangana, say many with eye on incentives

About 3,372 electric vehicles were registered in various parts of the State between November 18 and December 3, whereas it was 2,708 during the entire November last year. Most of these are believed to be electric two-wheelers

Hyderabad: The State has witnessed a surge in sales of Electric Vehicles (EVs) with the sale witnessing a 24.52 percent growth in the last one month. This is after the government announced tax exemptions recently.

About 3,372 electric vehicles were registered in various parts of the State between November 18 and December 3, whereas it was 2,708 during the entire November last year. Most of these are believed to be electric two-wheelers.

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According to Transport department officials, 78,262 new electric vehicles have been sold and registered during the year, whereas it was 51,994 during the same period last year. However, the sale of EV cars has not picked up so far, which is worrying the car dealers and manufacturers. Telangana’s new electric vehicle policy provides significant tax exemptions, encouraging EV ownership and aiming to increase sales.

Telangana’s new electric vehicle policy provides tax exemptions ranging between Rs.1.4 lakh and Rs.45 lakh on new electric vehicles, with premium cars receiving the maximum benefits.

The Regional Transport Authority (RTA) levies a life tax between 13-18 percent on vehicles priced above Rs.5 lakh, with the tax component varying based on the vehicle cost. However, the new EV policy offers 100 percent exemption from life tax and registration fee on purchase of new vehicles up to Dec 31, 2026.

The BRS government had introduced the Telangana Electric Vehicle & Energy Storage Policy 2020-2030, which propelled the faster adoption of EVs in the State as it offered 100 per cent exemption of road tax and registration fees for the first 2 lakh electric two-wheelers and 5,000 electric cars purchased and registered within the State.

This made electric vehicles an attractive option for consumers looking to reduce their overall ownership costs.

However, the Electric car sales saw a substantial drop after the State government withdrew the lifetime road tax and registration fee exemption enjoyed by electric passenger cars in July last year.

The EV car dealers were forced to deduct the road tax amount from the total price of the vehicle to attract customers. They suffered huge losses due to this. However, now they feel that the exemptions provided by the government would boost the sale of EV cars.

At present, there are 1.7 lakh EVs, which includes 1.3 lakh bikes and 12,765 cars in the State.