India’s cabinet has approved a 109 billion rupee ($1.3 billion) initiative to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) as part of its efforts to reduce pollution and transition to cleaner fuels.
The new scheme, named PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE), will provide subsidies totaling 36.79 billion rupees for electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers, e-ambulances, and e-trucks, according to Information Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
With EV adoption still relatively low in India, the government aims to increase uptake by offering incentives for manufacturing and purchasing electric vehicles and components. Notably, 5 billion rupees will be allocated specifically for deploying e-ambulances. Additionally, 5 billion rupees will be used to encourage the replacement of traditional trucks—significant contributors to air pollution—with e-trucks, with further subsidies for scrapping old trucks.
While the scheme’s details regarding passenger cars are unclear, it includes 43.91 billion rupees for public transport agencies to acquire 14,028 electric buses.
Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has urged car manufacturers to establish vehicle scrapping centers to remove polluting vehicles from the roads, suggesting that this could boost vehicle sales by 18-20%.
Electric vehicles accounted for less than 2% of the 4.2 million cars sold in India last year, but the government aims to raise this figure to 30% by 2030. The scheme also focuses on enhancing charging infrastructure and supporting the testing of new EV technologies.
The primary goal of the initiative is to accelerate EV adoption through direct purchase incentives and to support the development of essential charging infrastructure.
