EV makers to reach out to Niti Aayog, PMO for clarity on government policy
NEWDELHI: Lobby group Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) plans to meet top government officials to seek clarity on the government’s position on electric vehicles, days after roads minister Nitin Gadkari said there was no need for such a policy.
The lobby group plans to meet NITI Aayog chief executive Amitabh Kant and heavy industries minister Anant Geete next week, said a senior executive of one of the members of SMEV.
Subsequently, SMEV plans to write to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) based on the feedback of the meetings with Kant and Geete, said two people aware of the matter.
SMEV represents companies such as Hero Electric, Okinawa Scooters, Mahindra and Mahindra and Tata Motors.
Gadkari, in a press conference on February 16, said that the government will not formulate an electric vehicle policy and no further incentives will be accorded to the industry other than the existing ones.
This was a U-turn from the Union government’s erstwhile stance on sustainable mobility solutions.
“We have sought a meeting with Anant Geete and Amitabh Kant in the coming week to understand the government’s position on electric vehicles. Globally, a policy direction has been given by governments in order to make these vehicles affordable and sustainable for customers,” said a senior official at SMEV, requesting anonymity.
According to the industry body, the current subsidy on electric two-wheelers—up to ₹22,000—is not significant enough to lure buyers and the government should spend the entire amount allocated for giving subsidy over two or three years, rather than five or six years, in order to put electric vehicles and internal combustion enginebased vehicles on the same footing in terms of price.
“We need the second part of the FAME (subsidy) scheme to be implemented immediately from April 2 and if existing version of the FAME scheme continues then that would be meaningless. SMEV thinks that electric is the way forward and not hybrid and the government should focus on promoting electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers along with public transport buses in the next few years,” said the official mentioned above.
A day after Gadkari announced there will be no specific policy framework on electric vehicles, the ministry of heavy industries issued a press release saying, “Department of Heavy Industry is working for formulating the National Automotive Policy for holistic development of automobile sector in India.”
Though the draft policy proposes to adopt a long-term road map for emission standards beyond BS 6 and harmonise the same with global standards, it does not make any mention of electric vehicles or any form of sustainable mobility solutions for the future.
According to a spokesperson of Ford Motor India Pvt. Ltd, manufacturers need to know the government’s mid-long term view to make critical future investment decisions. According to Mahindra Electric Mobility Ltd chief executive officer Mahesh Babu, the country’s largest electric vehicle maker is not expecting any additional policy push.