Government approves green number plate for EVs

Electric vehicles (EVs) in India will soon sport unique green license plates. According to a PTI report, the government has approved the use of green license plates with white fonts on personal EVs and with yellow fonts on EVs used for commercial purposes.

“The government has approved distinctive green licence plates for electric vehicles in order to encourage people to use electric vehicles," Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road, Transport and Highways, told PTI. It will be the fifth type of license plate meant for civilian-owned vehicles in India.

The green license plate would help the drivers of these vehicles get privileges such as concession in toll charges, preference in parking areas and be allowed to enter congested areas. The step has been taken to promote the adoption of EVs in the country.

According to PTI, all public transport operators may also be mandated to have a certain percentage of electric vehicles in their fleet. "The government is also contemplating to ask taxi aggregators to have an incremental share of electric vehicles from 2020 onwards, which could be 1 percent of the fleet every year," the minister said.

Additionally, Gadkari said that the ministry is taking several steps to promote EV sales, like the tightening of fuel efficiency norms and proposing to bring down the GST on batteries to 12 percent, at par with the GST charged on EVs.