Electric Vehicles

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – EV to be under priority

Concept –

An EV operates on an electric motor instead of an internal combustion engine and has a battery instead of a fuel tank.
In general, EVs have low running costs as they have fewer moving parts and are also environmentally friendly.
India is among a handful of countries that support the global EV30@30 campaign, which aims for at least 30% new vehicle sales to be electric by 2030.
India’s advocacy of five elements for climate change — “Panchamrit” — at the COP26 in Glasgow is a commitment to the same.
The government of India has taken various measures to develop and promote the EV ecosystem in the country such as:
- The re-modelled Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME II) scheme
- Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) for the supplier side
- The recently launched PLI scheme for Auto and Automotive Components for manufacturers of electric vehicles.

FAME India Scheme

FAME India is a part of the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan. Main thrust of FAME is to encourage electric vehicles by providing subsidies.
The FAME India Scheme is aimed at incentivising all vehicle segments.

Two phases of the scheme:

Phase I: started in 2015 and was completed on 31st March, 2019
Phase II: started from April, 2019, will be completed by 31st March, 2022
The scheme covers Hybrid & Electric technologies like Mild Hybrid, Strong Hybrid, and Plug in Hybrid & Battery Electric Vehicles.
Monitoring Authority: Department of Heavy Industries, the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.
Fame India Scheme has four focus Areas:

Objectives of FAME Scheme:

Encourage faster adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles by way of offering upfront Incentive on purchase of Electric vehicles.
Establish a necessary charging Infrastructure for electric vehicles.
To address the issue of environmental pollution and fuel security.

Salient Features of Phase II:

Emphasis on electrification of the public transportation that includes shared transport.
This phase aims to support, through subsidies, approximately 7000 e-Buses, 5 lakh e-3 Wheelers, 55000 e-4 Wheeler Passenger Cars and 10 lakh e-2 Wheelers.
In 3-Wheel (W) and 4-Wheel (W) segment incentives will be applicable mainly to vehicles used for public transport or registered for commercial purposes.
In the 2-Wheel (W) segment, the focus will be on the private vehicles.
To encourage advanced technologies, the benefits of incentives will be extended to only those vehicles which are fitted with advanced batteries like a Lithium Ion battery and other new technology batteries.
The scheme proposes for establishment of charging infrastructure, whereby about 2700 charging stations will be established in metros, other million plus cities, smart cities and cities of Hilly states across the country so that there will be availability of at least one charging station in a grid of 3 km x 3 km.
Establishment of Charging stations are also proposed on major highways connecting major city clusters.
On such highways, charging stations will be established on both sides of the road at an interval of about 25 km each.