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The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a new scheme called PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) for the promotion of electric vehicles (EV) in India, replacing an earlier flagship scheme. The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) will implement the new scheme with a total outlay of Rs 10,900 crore over a period of two years.
The PM E-DRIVE will replace Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India Phase II (FAME India Phase II).
The new scheme offers subsidies/demand incentives worth Rs 3,679 crore to incentivise adoption of electric two-wheelers, electric three-wheelers, e-ambulances, e-trucks and other emerging EVs.
The scheme will support 24.79 lakh electric two-wheelers, 3.16 lakh e-three wheelers, and 14,028 e-buses.
For e-ambulances, a total of Rs 500 crore has been allocated. In addition, Rs 4,391 crore has been provided for the procurement of 14,028 e-buses by state transport units and public transport agencies.
To implement this, demand aggregation will be done by Convenience Energy Services Limited (CESL) in nine cities with a population of more than 40 lakh — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Bengaluru, Pune, and Hyderabad. Intercity and interstate e-buses will also be supported in consultation with states.
For availing benefits under the scheme, the ministry will introduce e-vouchers for EV buyers. At the time of purchase, the scheme portal will generate an Aadhaar authenticated e-voucher, which needs to be signed by the buyer and submitted to the dealer.
Subsequently, the e-voucher will also be signed by the dealer and uploaded on the PM E-DRIVE portal. The signed e-voucher will be sent to the buyer and dealer via SMS, and will be essential for the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) to claim reimbursement of demand incentives under the scheme.
The government said that the primary objective of the PM E-DRIVE scheme is to expedite the adoption of EVs by providing upfront incentives for their purchase, as well as by facilitating the establishment of essential charging infrastructure for EVs.
