Heavy Industries Ministry bets big on public transport in new EV subsidy scheme | Mint

New Delhi: Heavy Industries Minister HD Kumaraswamy said the majority of the new electric vehicle (EV) subsidy scheme, about 40%, will be spent on subsidising public transport such as e-buses. The money will be spent on helping state transport units and public transport agencies buy more electric buses.

The ministry has allocated around 40% of the total expenditure. Provision of Rs 10,900 crore for e-buses.

There will also be an outlay of PM E-Drive scheme Kumaraswamy said in a press conference on Thursday that a scheme of Rs 500 crore each has been planned for e-ambulances and e-trucks. He said that this scheme will also encourage scrapping of road transport vehicles. During the press conference, officials said that the ministry is also in talks with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways regarding the price of e-trucks.

The government has set aside An amount of Rs 4,391 crore has been sanctioned to subsidise the purchase of over 14,000 e-buses in nine cities with a population of over 4 million – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad.

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According to the press release from the Ministry of Heavy Industries, while allocating these buses, priority will be given to those buses which are being purchased after scrapping old state transport buses through authorised scrapping centres (RVSF) as per the guidelines of the Vehicle Scrapping Scheme of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries will coordinate with central agencies and state governments to introduce EV charging infrastructure on highways, as well as the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for consultation on e-ambulances, officials said.

There is also a provision in this plan According to a September 11 press release from the Ministry of Heavy Industries, an outlay of Rs 2,000 crore has been set aside for fast charging infrastructure to address consumer concerns.

“All charging infrastructure will be standardised,” Kamran Rizvi, Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries, said at a press conference. According to the ministry, the plan proposes to install 22,100 fast chargers for electric four-wheelers, 1,800 fast chargers for e-buses and 48,400 fast chargers for electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers.

During the briefing, a senior government official said, “Charging infrastructure has two components – upstream infrastructure and interface. We consulted the industry and found that they were facing difficulties in raising funds for upstream infrastructure, which also includes power supply. So we decided to subsidise it. We had paid 80% of the cost of upstream infrastructure in previous subsidy schemes and this time we have promised to fund 100%.”

During a press conference, officials from the Ministry of Heavy Industries said that the PM E-Drive scheme addresses the shortcomings of previous subsidy schemes like FAME and Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme (EMPS).

FAME stands for Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India.

Notably, the new scheme will use facial recognition technology, enabled by the Aadhaar database, to ensure that each individual does not purchase more than one vehicle in each class of electric EV at the subsidised price, a senior government official told reporters during a briefing.

Read more | Maharashtra leads in terms of electric buses, Delhi second: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways

“The consumer will get the vehicle at the subsidised price after the dealer generates an electronic voucher using UIDAI’s facial recognition technology. Then, both the dealer and the consumer will physically sign the voucher, and then the dealer will upload a verified copy of the voucher to the required parties to claim reimbursement from the government,” the senior official said. “For consumers, the scheme will remain the same.”

Under the new scheme, electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers will be subsidized. The government will give a subsidy of Rs 10,000 for e-bikes. 10,000 for the first year and it will be halved Kumaraswamy told reporters that Rs 5,000 would be paid for the second phase.

Officials said that the reduction in subsidy in India is in line with the trend of reduction in subsidy globally. For three-wheelers, the government will provide a subsidy of Rs 1.5 lakh. 50,000 for the first year and The next one will get a subsidy of Rs 25,000, while the three-wheeler e-rickshaw will get a subsidy of Rs 25,000. 25,000 for the first year and Rs 12,500 for the next one.

The senior government official clarified that the certificates issued to the manufacturers under EMPS will also be valid for the new PM e-Drive scheme and the government is in the process of creating a new portal for the new scheme.