NEW DELHI: To fasten the implementation of electric mobility, the Department of Heavy Industries has increased the incentive for two-wheelers from Rs 10,000/KWh to Rs 15000/KWh. Also, the cap on incentives for Electric two-wheelers will now be 40 per cent of the cost of vehicles.
Earlier, the cap on incentives for buses was 40 per cent of the cost of vehicles and for all other categories it was 20 per cent.
These amendments in the second phase of Fame (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) come at a time when the scheme, launched in April 2019, was much criticized for not providing adequate support to India’s nascent EV industry.
According to reports, only five per cent or around Rs 500 crore of the allocated Rs 10,000 crore has been spent so far.
Sales wise, only 58,613 electric two-wheelers have been sold so far as against the target of selling 10 lakh units by March 2022. About 15, 829 electric three-wheelers (3W) have been sold under the scheme against a target of 5-lakh.
According to EV maker Ather Energy, the modification can bring down total cost of ownership. “There will be “a whopping Rs 14,500 additional subsidy on the Ather450X model,” co-founder Tarun Mehta tweeted.
According to the Ministry of Heavy Industries, aggregation will be the key method for bringing the upfront cost of 3W EV at an affordable level and at par with ICE 3W. Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) will aggregate demand for three lakh electric 3W for multiple user segments.