Tamil Nadu to come out with a scrapping policy to encourage EV adoption: Industries Minister TRB Rajaa

The Tamil Nadu Government is set to come out with a scrapping policy to boost the sluggish EV adoption in the state by encouraging users to replace their old vehicles, according to its Minister for Industries, Investment Promotion and Commerce Department TRB Rajaa.

"It will be a tailor-made scrapping policy suited for Tamil Nadu. It will be a deeply thought-out policy to encourage those who can afford to buy EVs, and create subsidies for those cannot," he said on the sidelines of the India EV Conclave organised by Autocar Professional with various TN government ministries and departments on Tuesday.

The southern state, where 40 per cent of all the EVs sold in India are made, has seen low adoption of EVs. According to data from Climate Trends, Tamil Nadu's EV sales stood at 68,335 units between January and September 2023, and the penetration was 4.93 per cent. For the same period, comparable States such as Maharashtra had a penetration of 7.71 per cent, Karnataka 8.76 per cent, and Gujarat 5.40 per cent.

Rajaa pointed out that the state's EV adoption is a little slow also because of range anxiety. "To fix that, the state government is working towards setting up the most number of charging stations in all of India."

The state has an estimated 350 EV charging stations. "We don't have as many charging stations as we should have had. But we are increasing it multifold and we will become the number 1 state in the country," he added, indicating that an announcement in this regard is likely to made in the upcoming Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet scheduled for January 7-8, 2024.

Tamil Nadu has set its sight on doubling its current cumulative Rs 40,000 crore investment commitments in the EV space over the next two years.

The minister, in his keynote address, said the state is looking to invite global electric vehicle companies to set up their R&D centres and set up a base in Tamil Nadu. “Our aim is to make the state a knowledge hub and an R&D hub for Southeast Asia,” he said.

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