FAME scheme progresses on

In a move to attract investments, the Goods and Services Tax has been reduced to 5% on electric vehicles (EVS) from 12% and compared to 28% with 22% cess for conventional vehicles.

In addition, a budget provision of Rs.1,000 crore has been made for setting up of charging infrastructure under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India Scheme).

Updating Lok Sabha (parliament) on 10 Dec 2019, Minister of Heavy Industries Prakash Javadekar said the Department of Heavy Industry has invited proposals, through Expression of Interest (EoI), for establishment of 1,000 charging stations.

The Government, vide S.O. 5333(E) dated 18 October 2018, has also granted exemption to the battery-operated transport vehicles and transport vehicles running on ethanol and methanol fuels from the requirements of permit.

The Government, vide draft GSR 430(E) dated 18 June 2019, has proposed exemption of registration fees for battery operated/electric vehicles to promote the use of eco-friendly vehicles in the country, the Ministry Highlighted.

In the budget of 2019-20, the Finance Minister announced for providing additional income tax deduction of Rs.1.5 lakh on the interest paid on loans taken to purchase electric vehicles.

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has allowed the age group of 16-18 years to obtain driving licence to drive E-scooters.

Among others, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued an advisory dated 17 July 2019 to all States and Union Territories to promote use of electric vehicles.

Minister of State Heavy Industries Arjun Ram Meghwal also updated the house on FAME India Scheme’s plan to support about 10 lakh e-2 Wheelers, 5 lakh e-3 Wheelers, 55,000 e-4 Wheeler Passenger Cars and 7,000 e-Buses through demand incentives with an outlay of Rs.10,000 crore for a period of 3 years commencing from 1 April 2019.

In this Scheme, the emphasis is being given on electric vehicles, used for public transport or those registered for commercial purposes in e-3W, e-4W and e-bus segment.

Privately owned registered e-2W are also covered. Under the Scheme, the demand incentive is linked to battery capacity i.e. Rs.10,000/KWh for all category of vehicles except e-buses where it is Rs.20,000/KWh.

Under Phase-I of FAME-India Scheme, the Government has supported about 500 charging stations to establish electric vehicle charging stations in the country.

Out of about 500 charging stations sanctioned under Phase-I of FAME-India Scheme about 230 charging stations have been installed.

Further, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) under the Ministry of Power has deployed 65 public charging stations for EVs in the country. EESL is also deploying around 300 AC and 170 DC captive chargers across Government offices in the country.

As per information received from EESL, the time required to charge an e-vehicle depends on the rated capacity and type of charger. DC-001 (15kW) charger takes around 70-80 minutes for complete charging (0-100%) for e-car with battery capacity of 18kWh. The unit cost of charging per unit is Rs9.5 plus GST for public charging stations operated at NDMC, Delhi.

As per information received from Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures (SIAM), there are about 30 crore vehicles plying on the road which are based on internal combustion engine, the house was told. SIAM supports FAME–India scheme. fiinews.com