Works on charging infra for e-vehicles

The Government is supporting a Rs.10,000 crore scheme for the electrification of public and shared transportation layout with the aim to have 7,000 e-Buses, 5 lakh e-3 Wheelers, 55,000 e-4 Wheeler Passenger Cars and 10 lakh e-2 Wheelers during 2019-22.

This update was given by Minister of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Arvind Ganpat Sawant, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on 1 July 2019.

The Faster Adoption and Manufacture of Electric Vehicles (FAME) Phase II was notified on 8 March 2019 and commenced from 1 April 2019. It is a follow up of Phase I that promoted manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicle (xEV) technology from 1 April 2015.

The Phase I was started with an outlay of Rs.795 crore for 2 years, but it was extended from time to time and the last extension was till 31 March 2019 with an increase in the total outlay to Rs.895 crore.

The Phase II of FAME Scheme envisages support for setting up of adequate public charging infrastructure to instill confidence among EV users, through active participation and involvement of various stakeholders including Government agencies, industries and Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs).

A budget provision of Rs.1,000 Crore for a period of 3 years, 2019-22, has been earmarked for establishment of charging infrastructure under Phase II of FAME Scheme.

Further, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) under the Ministry of Power has informed that they have installed 209 AC Chargers (Slow) and 132 DC Chargers (Fast) all over India,

Various other initiatives have been taken by the Government to promote electric mobility in the country, he said.

Some of the main details are:

Under new GST regime, the rates of GST on Electric Vehicles has been kept in the lower bracket of 12% (with no Cess) as against the 28% GST rate with Cess up to 22% for conventional vehicles;

Ministry of Power has allowed sale of electricity as ‘service’ for charging of electric vehicles. This would provide a huge incentive to attract investments into charging infrastructure.

Ministry of Road Transport Highways issued notification regarding exemption of permit in case of battery-operated vehicles.

Since GST on Electric Vehicle (EV) is quite less compared to conventional vehicles, the Government expects growth of EV industry in near future, said the Minister. fiinews.com