The FAME II electric vehicle subsidy scheme primarily focuses on commercial vehicles with no incentives for private buyers of electric vehicles. As of now, only seven manufacturers comply with FAME II norms.
The government has been very ambitious with its plans for electrification of vehicles but the process, as it turns out has not been so smooth for the automobile manufacturers. The second phase of FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India) India scheme took off on March 1, 2019. The government allotted a much bigger budget of Rs. 10,000 crores to accelerate adoptions of EVs. The FAME II scheme offers electric vehicle subsidy to its buyers.
Its been four months since the FAME scheme has been in its second phase and its turning out to be rather difficult for most manufacturers. These manufacturers were earlier benefiting from the incentives that were offered in the first phase of the scheme. A total of 29 companies were registered under the FAME scheme initially, but only seven manufacturers have been able to achieve the stringent FAME II norms.
Most of the seven manufacturers who are successfully adhering to the FAME II norms and selling FAME II eligible products are two-wheeler manufacturers, followed by three-wheelers and passenger vehicles. There are no commercial vehicle manufacturers yet. Also, the Central government and some State governments have been quite keen in introducing large number of electric buses across the country for public transportation but sadly, there are no commercial vehicle manufacturer to provide the same.
On June 29, the Chief Minister of Kerala, Vijayan Pinarayi, announced a rather ambitious target of having as many as one million EVs on the roads of Kerela by 2022. It will start off with a pilot fleet of 3,000 buses, 2,00,000 two-wheelers, 50,000 three-wheelers and 1,000 goods carriers.
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The seven manufacturers who are currently adhering to the FAME II norms are the follows:
- Mahindra & Mahindra (high- and low-speed three-wheelers and electric cars)
- Tata Motors (electric car)
- Kinetic Green Energy & Power (high- and low-speed three-wheeler)
- Jitendra New EV Tech (electric two-wheeler)
- Okinawa Autotech (electric two-wheeler)
- Ather Energy (electric two-wheeler)
- Ampere Vehicles (electric two-wheeler)
The FAME II scheme primarily focuses on the electrification of public transport which also includes shared transport. However, the FAME II scheme does not give subsidy to private buyers of electric vehicles. The scheme also plans to support a million electric two-wheelers, 5,00,000 e-three-wheelers, 55,000 four-wheelers and 7,000 buses.
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The lack of proper charging infrastructure and relatively low demand for electric vehicles still remains one of the biggest hindrances under the scheme to achieve high levels of EV localisation. Meanwhile, on June 21, NITI Aayog, the government’s think tank, in a meeting with the leaders of the industry has asked vehicle manufacturers to come up with a road-map to further the issue with the adoption of electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers. There soon is going to progress with the FAME II electric vehicle subsidy scheme.
