To promote electric vehicles in India, the government has approved green license plates bearing numbers in white fonts for private e-vehicles and yellow for taxis, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said today. The government also plans to allow youth in the age bracket of 16-18 years to drive electric scooters, besides mandating taxi aggregators to have a certain percentage of the e-vehicle fleet.
"The government has approved distinctive green license plates for electric vehicles to encourage people to use electric vehicles. Such vehicles will be fitted with green license plates bearing numbers in white fonts for private cars and yellow font for taxis," Gadkari said. A notification in this regard will be out in a week's time, the minister, who has been advocating electric mobility promotion, he said.
The purpose behind distinctive number plates is their easy identification for preferential treatment in parking, free entry in congested zones besides other proposed benefits like concessional toll, the road transport, and highways minister told PTI.
The measure is aimed at promoting vehicle's use and the government is considering an exemption from permits for such vehicles.
"Exemption from permit will be a game changer as restricted permit regime is a major concern. E-rickshaw growth is attributable to the permit exemption and there is scope to extend the exemption to the e-buses, e-taxis, e-autos, and e-bikes. E-auto and e-buses may have a big impact since getting a new permit is extremely difficult," the minister said.
Similarly, e-bikes also should see a considerable impact since it is a new area, he added. Besides, the government is contemplating permitting youth in the age group of 16-18 years to drive e-scooters, which are gearless and this will lead to a big demand for e-scooters, the minister noted.
Under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, those in the age group of 16-18 years are granted a licence for below 50 CC gearless scooters. Incidentally, there is no scooter in this category made in the country.
"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," Gadkari said.