The central government is considering a FAME-ll scheme for electric buses to replace diesel buses in public transport, amid allegations that many electric two wheeler makers had wrongfully claimed incentives.
Under the FAME-ll ( Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) scheme, the government wants to electrify more buses in India. Government sources told the news,” Our aim is to include more electric buses on the road because this is an area of highest impact, socially and environmentally.” “It will not only reduce the environment pollution but also reduce fuel consumption that we import outside to pay a high price”.
The move comes even as investigations are underway against a dozen electric two wheeler makers for alleged violations of the local value addition criteria under the scheme. Ather, Ola, TVs Motor and Vida are separately under the scanner for alleged mispricing of their electric vehicles to become eligible for subsidy under the scheme.
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“FAME-all subsidies are the main objective to incentivise mobility operators to transition to electric. For this reason the Govt did not extend subsidies to private car buyers under the scheme,” said the official. “We want to implement the scheme in such a manner so that more people get the most benefit.”
Already the Govt has earned about Rs 10,000 crore under the FAME-ll scheme. This scheme incentivises 7,000 buses; 55,000 passenger cars and about one million two wheelers and half a million three wheelers. Other officials said that we have already achieved nearly 80% of the target for electrification in the electric two wheeler segment and we want to add more electric buses under this scheme.
The government had doubled the allocation for FAME-ll in the budget for the next fiscal year to Rs 5,172 crore.
In 2019, the government spent Rs 3,889.94 crore for the FAME-ll scheme.
