Ministry of Heavy Industries gives Rs 564 cr incentive to 1.65 lakh EVs
New Delhi, Nov 30 (UNI) The Government’s scheme of faster adoption and manufacturing of hybrid and electric vehicles in India ‘FAME India’, has been rapidly gaining momentum with the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI), supporting about 1.65 lakh electric vehicles under phase-II of FAME India scheme as on 25 November, 2021.
The support has come by way of demand incentive amounting to about Rs 564 crore and a further, 6,315 electrical buses have been sanctioned to various state/city transport undertakings under phase-II of the scheme, Minister of State for Heavy Industries, Krishan Pal Gurjar in informed Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
The Ministry has also sanctioned 2,877 electric vehicles (EVs) charging stations amounting to Rs 500 crore in 68 cities across 25 states/UTs and 1576 charging stations amounting to Rs 108 crore across 9 expressways and 16 highways under FAME India scheme phase II. As per a Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) report, the auto industry generates employment of 13 persons for each truck, 6 persons for each car and four persons for each three wheelers and one person for two-wheelers.
The FAME-India scheme was formulated in March 2015 to promote adoption of electric/ hybrid vehicles (xEVs) in India. Phase l of the scheme was available up to 31 March, 2019 with four focus areas, namely, demand creation, pilot project, technology development/R&D and charging infrastructure. Based on the outcome and experience gained during phase-I and following consultations with industry associations and all stakeholders, the Government notified phase-II of FAME India on 8 March, 2019.
The second phase of the programme is for a period of 5 years, effective from 1 April, 2019, with a total budgetary support of Rs 10,000 crore. This phase focuses on supporting electrification of public and shared transportation and aims to support, through subsidies, approximately 7000 e-buses, 5 lakh e-3 wheelers, 55000 e-4 wheeler passenger cars and 10 lakh e-2 wheelers. In addition, creation of charging infrastructure is also supported to address range anxiety among users of electric vehicles.
In the first phase of the scheme, about 2.8 lakh hybrid and electric vehicles were supported by way of demand incentive, amounting to about Rs 359 crore. The Ministry had also sanctioned 425 electric and hybrid buses to various cities in the country with a total cost of about 280 crore. Around 520 charging stations/infrastructure for Rs 43 crore under Phase-I of FAME India was sanctioned by the Ministry. Further, specific projects under pilot projects, R&D/ technology development and public charging infrastructure components were sanctioned by the project implementation and sanctioning committee for extending grant under the different focus areas of the scheme.