Govt to switch on massive subsidy to supercharge EV infrastructure

Subsidy to support 72,300 fast charging stations across the country

The central government will provide an 80 per cent or higher subsidy (which could increase to 100 per cent in exceptional cases) on the upstream infrastructure required to set up electric public fast charging stations across the country under the Rs 2,000 crore PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM eDRIVE) scheme (which replaced the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of [Hybrid &] Electric Vehicles in India schemes). 

According to draft guidelines from the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI), the subsidy will support 48,400 fast chargers for electric two- and three-wheelers (with Rs 581 crore earmarked), 22,100 for electric four-wheelers (with Rs 1,061 crore allocated), and 1,800 for electric buses and trucks (with Rs 346 crore designated), totalling 72,300 fast chargers. 

Under the scheme, 30 per cent of the incentive (subsidy) will be released by the MHI after the tender award stage, 40 per cent after the deployment of the electric fast charging station, and the remaining amount after the successful commercial operation of the charging station. 

The draft also specifies the minimum charging capacity: for electric two- and three-wheelers, pegged at 12 kilowatt (kW) with a benchmark minimum cost of Rs 1.5 lakh; for electric four-wheelers at 60 kW with a minimum benchmark of Rs 6 lakh; and for electric buses at 240 kW with a minimum benchmark of Rs 24 lakh.  

The MHI has also identified the top 40 priority cities for electric four-wheeler charging infrastructure based on the high electric vehicle (EV) share. These include Delhi (with a 14.6 per cent share of electric four-wheelers), Bengaluru (12.2 per cent), Mumbai (9.5 per cent), Hyderabad (7.4 per cent), Pune (5.2 per cent), and others like Ludhiana, Jodhpur, and Udaipur at the lower end. 

 

Moreover, 40 highway corridors for electric bus traffic and 20 highway corridors for electric trucks have been identified as priorities for setting up charging infrastructure. These include 270 kilometre (km) from Hyderabad to Vijayawada, 230 km from Pune to Kolhapur, 240 km between Delhi and Chandigarh and Delhi and Agra, and 554 km from Delhi to Lucknow for electric buses.

For trucks, highways identified include Delhi-Chandigarh, Jaipur-Delhi, Gorakhpur-Lucknow, and Vijayawada to Visakhapatnam, among others. 

Under the programme, state and central ministries (such as road transport and highways, tourism, health and family welfare, railways, and aviation, among others) will be invited to aggregate demand for EV charging stations across various cities and highways through organisations under their control. States will set up a nodal agency to aggregate demand for charging stations, and proposals will be sent to the MHI for final approval. 

Once approved, states will assist in identifying and accessing land and will follow a transparent bidding process to onboard charging point operators for deploying the charging stations. They will also bring technical expertise to operate the stations, which must meet MHI approval. To be eligible under the scheme, chargers must be manufactured according to the phased manufacturing programme.

 

The MHI has outlined a broad plan for implementing the programme: it expects tenders to be issued within 16 weeks of the scheme’s clearance, finalisation of the bidding process in 26 weeks, the release of the first tranche of the incentive in 28 weeks, and the final tranche after the charging infrastructure is commercially operational within 52 weeks.