The Prime Minister led NDA government is focusing on electric vehicles. It is said that in 10 years India will replace petrol and diesel vehicles with EV.
The government has introduced the PM E-DRIVE scheme with an outlay of 10,900 crore, effective from October 2024 to March 2026. This initiative aims to accelerate electric vehicle adoption by offering subsidies and grants for EVs and charging infrastructure. State governments are encouraged to provide additional fiscal and non-fiscal incentives.
The scheme will be implemented from October 1, 2024, to March 31, 2026. It aims for faster adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), setting up of charging infrastructure and development of EV manufacturing eco-system in the country.
Apart from electric buses, ₹2,679 crore will be set aside to subsidize 2.48 million electric two-wheelers and 316,000 electric three-wheelers.
“For ambulances, we are going to give incentives to hybrids because we need total reliability in the vehicles,” Ashwani Vaishnav, Union Minister for information and broadcasting said at a Cabinet briefing.
Additionally, ₹500 crore each has been earmarked for electric trucks and hybrid ambulances, aiming to drive EV adoption in critical service sectors and the commercial vehicle segment for the first time.
Charging infrastructure development also receives a major push, with ₹2,000 crore to support the installation of 22,100 fast chargers for e-four-wheelers, 1800 fast chargers for e-buses and 48,400 fast chargers for e-two-wheelers and three-wheelers in select cities with high levels of EV penetration.