The government has taken a big decision to promote electric vehicles in the country. In the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the PM E-DRIVE scheme has been approved. Under this scheme, the government will spend Rs 10,900 crore to promote electric mobility in the country. Under this scheme, a subsidy of Rs 3,679 crore will be given so that battery-operated two-wheelers, electric three-wheelers, ambulances, trucks and other new electric vehicles can be made more and more popular.
Under the PM E-Drive scheme, 100 percent assistance will be provided for charging infrastructure at 88,500 sites. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that this investment is in addition to the PLI scheme for auto and auto component sectors. The press release issued in this regard said, ‘Rs 3,679 crore has been made available to provide incentives to electric two-wheelers, electric three-wheelers, e-ambulances, e-trucks and other new electric vehicles.
Under this scheme, 24.79 lakh electric-two-wheelers, 3.16 electric-three-wheelers and 14,028 electric-buses will be supported. Apart from this, Rs 4,391 crore has been provided for the purchase of 14,028 e-buses by state transport units and public transport agencies. The government has taken initiative to promote e-ambulances. However, Ashwini Vaishnav clarified that the recently introduced new policy does not provide any incentive for electric cars and it will also not consider hybrid vehicles.
The PM e-Drive scheme replaces the FAME scheme, which was launched in April 2015 and ran for 9 years in two different phases. Under this scheme, the second phase was valid till March 31, 2024 and under this, the government subsidized a total of 13,21,800 electric vehicles at a cost of Rs 11,500 crore.
