PM E-DRIVE to boost electric vehicle adoption, says H D Kumaraswamy

The newly launched ₹10,900 crore PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) scheme aims to boost electric vehicle (EV) adoption through significant upfront incentives and the development of essential charging infrastructure, Minister of Heavy Industries H D Kumaraswamy said on Wednesday.

“With an ambitious outlay of Rs 10,900 crore, this scheme is set to accelerate the adoption of EVs through substantial upfront incentives and the development of crucial charging infrastructure. Our goal is to reduce our environmental footprint, improve air quality, and build a competitive and resilient EV manufacturing industry,” Kumaraswamy said.

The PM E-DRIVE scheme, approved by the government on September 11, succeeds the ambitious Faster Adoption & Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme. It also subsumes the ₹500 crore Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme (EMPS) 2024, which is in effect from April 1 to September 30.

The notification for the PM E-DRIVE scheme is expected within weeks. This new scheme replaces the previous FAME initiatives, which began with FAME-I in 2015, followed by FAME-II with an outlay of ₹11,500 crore.

FAME-II proved to be financially successful, with approximately 93 per cent of targeted vehicles incentivized and 92 per cent of the allocated funds utilised, Kumaraswamy said.

The PM E-DRIVE scheme allocates ₹2,000 crore for the installation of 22,100 fast chargers for electric four-wheelers, 1,800 for e-buses, and 48,400 for e-two- and three-wheelers.

Under the new scheme, support will be provided for 24.79 lakh e-two-wheelers, 3.16 lakh e-three-wheelers, and 14,028 e-buses. The scheme offers subsidies and demand incentives amounting to ₹3,679 crore for e-two-wheelers, e-three-wheelers, e-ambulances, e-trucks, and other emerging EVs. Notably, the scheme does not extend incentives to e-cars.

Additionally, ₹4,391 crore has been earmarked for the procurement of 14,028 e-buses by state transport undertakings and public transport agencies. Demand aggregation will be managed by Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) in nine cities with populations exceeding 40 lakh. The cities are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad. The scheme also supports intercity and interstate e-buses in consultation with State governments.

The Cabinet has also approved the “PM-eBus Sewa-Payment Security Mechanism (PSM)” scheme, which has an outlay of ₹3,435 crore for the procurement and operation of e-buses by public transport authorities (PTAs).