New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved two major schemes with a total outlay of Rs 14,335 crore to promote use of electric vehicles, including buses, ambulances and trucks.
The two schemes are: PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) Scheme with an outlay of Rs 10,900 crore over a period of two years, and PM-eBus Sewa-Payment Security Mechanism (PSM) scheme with a budget of Rs 3,435 crore.
Briefing media about the decisions taken at the Union Cabinet, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the PM E-DRIVE Scheme is a major decision towards bringing down pollution.
Under the scheme, subsidies/demand incentives worth Rs 3,679 crore have been provided for e-2Ws (electric two-wheelers), e-3Ws (electric three-wheelers), e-ambulances, e-trucks and other emerging EVs.
The scheme will support 24.79 lakh e-2Ws, 3.16 lakh e-3Ws, and 14,028 e-buses.
An official release said the ministry of heavy industries (MHI) is introducing e-vouchers for EV buyers to avail demand incentives under the scheme. At the time of purchase of the EV, the scheme portal will generate an Aadhaar-authenticated e-Voucher for the buyer.
Further, the PM E-DRIVE allocates Rs 500 crore for the deployment of e-ambulances.
This is a new initiative of the central government to promote the use of e-ambulance for a comfortable patient transport. The performance and safety standards of e-ambulances will be formulated in consultation with MoHFW, MoRTH and other relevant stakeholders.
Also, Rs 4,391 crore has been provided for the procurement of 14,028 e-buses by state transport undertakings and public transport agencies.
The demand aggregation will be done by CESL in nine cities with more than 40 lakh population, namely Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad. Intercity and interstate e-buses will also be supported in consultation with states.
The release further said that the trucks are a major contributor to air pollution. The PM E-DRIVE will promote the deployment of e-trucks in the country and Rs 500 crore has been allocated for incentivising e-trucks.
The scheme also addresses range anxiety of EV buyers by promoting in a big way the installation of electric vehicle public charging stations (EVPCS).
These EVPCS would be installed in the selected cities with high EV penetration and also on selected highways. The scheme proposes the installation of 22,100 fast chargers for e-4Ws (electric four-wheelers), 1,800 fast chargers for e-buses and 48,400 fast chargers for e-2W/3Ws. The outlay for EVPCS will be Rs 2,000 crore.
“This entire programme will be a big help in having sustainable growth and making sure that our country progresses rapidly on the electric vehicles movement,” Vaishnaw said.
The minister informed that PM-eBus Sewa-Payment Security Mechanism (PSM) scheme for procurement and operation of e-buses by Public Transport Authorities (PTAs) has an outlay of Rs 3,435 crore to support the roll-out of 38,000 e-buses.
“This scheme will support deployment of more than 38,000 electric buses (e-Buses) from FY 2024-25 to FY 2028-29. The scheme will support the operation of e-buses for a period of up to 12 years from the date of deployment,” another official release said.
At present, the majority of buses operated by PTAs run on diesel/CNG, causing adverse environmental impact.
On the other hand, e-buses are environment-friendly and have lower operational cost.
However, it was anticipated that PTAs would find it challenging to procure and operate e-buses because of their high upfront cost and lower realisation of revenue from operations, the release said.
To address the high capital cost of e-buses, public transport authorities induct these buses through Public Private Partnership on Gross Cost Contract (GCC) model. The PTAs are not required to pay the upfront cost of the bus under the GCC model, instead OEMs/operators procure and operate e-buses for PTAs with monthly payments. However, OEMs/operators are hesitant to engage in this model due to concerns about potential payment defaults.
The PSM scheme addresses this concern by ensuring timely payments to OEMs/operators through a dedicated fund. In case of default of payments by PTAs, CESL, the implementing agency, shall make necessary payments from the scheme funds which will be later recouped by the PTAs/state/UTs, the release added.
Earlier, the government had implemented Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicle (FAME) scheme in two phases. About 16 lakh electric vehicles were supported under FAME 1 and FAME 2 schemes.
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