[TusharK]

The government of India is planning to impose a 'green cess' on petrol-powered 2-wheelers to incentivise e-bikes. The additional tax could range from Rs. 800-1,000.



According to a media report, the government intends to reduce the price gap between electric 2-wheelers and petrol bikes, while at the same time promote the use of e-bikes. It aims to bring 1 million electric 2-wheelers on roads in the next 2-3 years.

The introduction of a green cess could prompt bike makers to hike prices of their products. While the increase in prices is likely to affect growth, the sale of electric 2-wheelers could compensate for it. In 2018, 21.6 million 2-wheelers were sold in India. The 2-wheeler segment registered a growth of 12.8%.

Source: Economic Times

Link to Team-BHP News

[srishiva]

Even with the higher prices, electric 2 wheelers are too costly for people to buy. What extra incentives are they providing to move people from petrol to electric ? Dont they have to look at the environmental impacts, its advantages, its impact on people's health in particular, the savings that might come with that etc ?

[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by srishiva

Even with the higher prices, electric 2 wheelers are too costly for people to buy. What extra incentives are they providing to move people from petrol to electric ? Dont they have to look at the environmental impacts, its advantages, its impact on people's health in particular, the savings that might come with that etc ?

They do see all that for sure. But since Government has a majority holding on the three main oil refineries, and since the nation runs on taxes collected from these fossil fuels, they would be reluctant to make the push towards electric mobility.

PS: Even the small incentive that was being provided under the FAME scheme has been withdrawn last year.

[Neo18]

Another foot in the mouth move by our beloved Government! While the intentions are laudable, the steps taken are draconian to say the least. Instead of focusing on improving public transport system or enabling the infrastructure for electric vehicles, the current tax payers are being fleeced to the bones in one or the other way, while not being accountable on how these additional taxes are used to the betterment of the citizens.

[MaheshY1]

Unless this green cess goes towards making e bikes affordable, I don't see this working. This is just more cash in somebody's pockets.

[ethanhunt123]

Wow ! One more stupid cess - like the other cess's introduced so far have made any changes in our lives. This is just a way to extract more money from the honest tax-paying public.

First the government should have a transparent mechanism to show where the existing cess's are being utilised before imposing a new one.

[Thermodynamics]

No need for incentives on EVs or punishment of ICs. Instead reduce taxes on EVs and Full-hybrids, invest in power plants and charging infra-structure, everything will fall in place.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by TusharK

While the increase in prices is likely to affect growth, the sale of electric 2-wheelers could compensate for it. In 2018, 21.6 million 2-wheelers were sold in India. The 2-wheeler segment registered a growth of 12.8%.

Hope they have noticed how much the market has crashed over the last couple of months -

[NiXTriX2004]

I am not inclined to believe this "news". The source given by the article is "a senior official in the know of the development". Unless there is a notification or is stated by a named official or minister, I think it is best to ignore such brouhaha about nothing especially in the months close to elections.

[Bh.P]

I am not sure this is the right way to go about it. The electric scooter makers are simply not making enough efforts to make their products a lucrative alternative to petrol scooters. So why penalize the petrol scooter makers for the inefficiency of the electric scooter makers?
I was in the market recently to buy a two wheeler. Unfortunately, none of the electric two wheels appealed as an alternative to the petrol ones. Ather looked promising, but was not a value proposition for my limited use. Hence, I settled for a petrol scooter.
So, the problem is not lower cost of petrol scooters compared to electric. The problem is electric scooters do not provide value for what is charged for them. Fix that!

[adrian]

Just another hype to boost some electric vehicle manufacturer.




courtesy : https://topnyjets.com/update_electri...er_station.php

[babu.sundaram]

Very likely a "rumour" only, the way this (Rumour: 2-strokes to be banned from 1st April, 2019) was.


Lot of social media rumours and hypes around. It is very unlikely that any sensible would do anything like this, that too with election around.


Pl don't spend time on these, unless it is official.

[tarik.arora]

So, a INR 800 to 1,000 cess on two wheeler would mean than the government will rake in around 2,000 crore rupees. This is nothing more than a new multi-crore scam.

[Ragavsr]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Hope they have noticed how much the market has crashed over the last couple of months -

Do we have any solid reasons for this massive crash? Is it an indicator of the overall economy?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Ragavsr

Do we have any solid reasons for this massive crash? Is it an indicator of the overall economy?

Increase in fuel prices and insurance prices (with mandatory third party purchases) seem to be the main reason as per Autopunditz. They do have a point because scooter sales seem to have taken a massive hit compared to motorcycles.

Adding another cess on top of this situation won't help the market for sure. Electric two wheelers are far from a reality, so the market will only decide to postpone or cancel their purchases rather than migrate to electrics to avoid the cess.

As per ET -

Experts said urban buyers are deferring plans to buy scooters due to the rise in the cost of ownership. “Unlike motorcycles, which are used for daily commute by small businessmen and farmers in rural areas, scooters are family vehicles,” explained Ashish Kale, president of the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations. “Scooters are more often a second two-wheeler used by the women in families in urban areas. With fuel prices and insurance costs increasing last year, many such buyers put off discretionary purchases, slowing down scooter sales.”