Govt may extend EV scheme till Mar 2024
NEW DELHI: The central government may extend its ambitious scheme to promote electric mobility by two years till March 31 2024, two people aware of the deliberations said. The Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (Fame) scheme is run by the department of heavy industries (DHI), which is in favour of such an extension.
The scheme’s first phase began on April 1 2015, and was extended till March 31 2019, and the second phase (Fame-2) that began on April 1 2019 is to end on March 31 2022. It is designed to support the electrification of public and shared transport, and help create charging infrastructure. The marquee scheme signals the government’s intent to reduce vehicular emissions and dependence on fossil fuel. However, the scheme has failed to take off, with only 5%, or ₹492 crore, of the ₹10,000 crore allocated under its second phase spent till March, as reported by Mint on Friday. Money allocated under Fame-2.
“A decision is expected shortly on extending Fame-2 by two years,” one of the two people cited above said on condition of anonymity.
“NITI Aayog has suggested the reworking the scheme’s second phase to help bring down the cost of electric vehicles (EVS) on par with those with internal combustion engines (ICE), leverage the benefit of aggregation, and achieve Fame-2 targets with the current allocation of ₹10,000 crore,” said the second person cited above who also did not want to be named. EVS are costlier than traditional vehicles with ICES.