Electric two-wheeler buyers can avail subsidy of up to Rs 10,000 in first year of PM E-DRIVE: Kumaraswamy

New Delhi: Union Heavy Industries Minister HD Kumaraswamy said on Thursday said that the electric two-wheeler buyers can avail a maximum subsidy of up to Rs 10,000 in the first year of the PM E-DRIVE Scheme to be rolled out soon.

The subsidy under the PM E-DRIVE Scheme for electric two-wheelers has been fixed based on battery power at Rs 5,000 per kilowatt hour but the overall incentive will not exceed Rs 10,000 in the first year. In the second year, it will be halved by Rs 2,500 per kilowatt hour, and the overall benefit will not exceed Rs 5,000, he told media here.

To promote electric mobility, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved two major projects- PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) Scheme with an outlay of Rs 10,900 crore over a period of two years, and PM-eBus Sewa-Payment Security Mechanism (PSM) scheme with a budget of Rs 3,435 crore.

E-rickshaw buyers can avail of subsidy benefits of Rs 25,000 in the first year and Rs 12,500 in the second year of the PM E-DRIVE scheme.

"The per kilowatt subsidy for electric two-wheelers is Rs 5,000 for the first year, and in the second year Rs 2,500, for two years, this benefit will be continued," the minister said.

For the L5 category (cargo three-wheelers), they will get a benefit of Rs 50,000 in the first year, and for the second year, it is Rs 25,000, the minister further informed.

Under the scheme, an Aadhaar authenticated e-voucher will be issued by the PM E-DRIVE portal, and it has to be duly signed by the buyer and dealer and uploaded on the portal. The buyer would also need to upload a selfie to avail of demand incentives under the scheme.

Kumaraswamy informed that subsidies/demand incentives worth Rs 3,679 crore have been provided to incentivise e-2Ws, e-3Ws, e-ambulances, e-trucks and other emerging EVs under the PM E-DRIVE Scheme. The scheme will support 24.79 lakh e-2Ws, 3.16 lakh e-3Ws, and 14,028 e-buses.

Commenting on the targeted level of EV penetration with the new scheme, the Minister said the government is expecting 10 per cent of new annual sales in electric two-wheelers and 15 per cent of new annual sales in three-wheelers.

On the PM-eBus Sewa-Payment Security Mechanism (PSM), Rizvi said the government has ensured payments to electric bus operators with 38,000 e-buses with an outlay of over Rs 3,435 crore.