FAME II is likely to draw an investment of about Rs 5,500 crore over the next five years which will be used to provide subsidies for all types of electric vehicles.
The government of India is planning a six-fold increase in the allocation of funds for the second phase of FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid & Electric Vehicles) India scheme. This will include an investment of about Rs 5,500 crore over the next five years to provide subsidies for all types of electric vehicles (EVs) including two-, three- and four-wheelers to promote environment-friendly vehicles and check pollution, reported Auto Car.
Under FAME I, the government had sanctioned a corpus of Rs 795 crore, which was later augmented to Rs 895 crore. The aim was to create demand incentives, build infrastructure – within which EV homologation facilities are set up at ARAI and other centres – support many R&D projects and launch new pilot projects. The pilot projects include the launch of 450 EVs across nine cities under the public transportation system.
Speaking at a recent industry meet, Dr Asha Ram Sihag, Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries, said that the focus of the FAME policy under its second stage (for a five-year period from April 2019) is to support public transportation, shared mobility and electric mobility including for small vehicles such as two-wheelers.
Dr Sihag said that the government has invested in setting up homologation facilities for EVs at ARAI, Pune; GARC, Chennai and ICAT, Manesar as well as a new battery testing facility at NATRAX in Indore. All of these facilities will become functional in CY2019.
He further commented that the automotive industry in India may not face a shortage of advanced testing facilities once all the above-mentioned EV homologation units become functional in CY2019.
300 new EV charging stations sanctioned
Dr Sihag added that the government has also been running pilot projects in the form of 225 EV charging stations in select cities across India. He revealed that the government has just sanctioned another 300 charging stations, which are expected to come up across cities and select highways. Citing examples of the chosen highways, Dr Sihag said Delhi-Agra-Jaipur and Mumbai-Pune are the two highways which will get EV charging stations with a capital investment of Rs 35 crore.
The initiative, a part of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) – Phase 1, will be completed by the end of calendar 2019. Dr Sihag was speaking in the inaugural session of the 16th Symposium on International Automotive Technology (SIAT 2019) hosted by Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) at Oxford Gold Resort at Bavdhan, Pune.
