The government has extended the validity of the second phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME)-II program for all approved electric vehicle models.

The validity has been extended by three months and up to December 31, 2020, according to news agency PTI.

The extension comes to effect from October 1, 2020. All the approved vehicle models would need to be re-validated by December 31, 2020.

The program is the expanded version of FAME India I, which was launched on April 1, 2015, with a total outlay of ₹8.95 billion ($126.2 million).

FAME India is part of the National Electricity Mobility Mission Plan, and the government launched the FAME program to provide a push for early adoption and market creation for both hybrids and EVs. The FAME program covers all vehicles – two-wheelers, three-wheelers, four-wheelers, and buses. The incentives to be provided are based on the type and make of any given vehicle.

In March 2019, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal to implement the second phase of the program aimed towards the promotion of electric mobility in the country. Moreover, the central government planned an outlay of ₹5 billion (~$70.3 million) for the second phase of the FAME program to propel EV adoption on a bigger scale. The program, with a total budget of ₹100 billion ($1.41 billion), was expected to be deployed over three years with effect from April 1, 2019.

The FAME program was launched in 2015 and was successful in increasing the share of hybrid and EV passenger vehicles from zero in FY 2012-13 to 1.3% in the FY 2015-16. The EV industry sold 156,000 electric vehicles in the financial year 2019-20. According to the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles, the sale of electric vehicles in India increased by 20% in 2019-20, mainly driven by rising sales of two-wheelers.

Recently, the government said that it had provided a demand incentive of ₹950 million (~$12.9 million) towards 27,201 electric vehicles until September 10, 2020.

Apart from this, 5,595 electric buses had been approved for several states and city transport undertakings under the FAME II program. This also includes a government incentive of ₹28 billion (~$380.5 million).

In January 2020, it was reported that the Department of Heavy Industries had approved 2,636 electric vehicle charging stations in 62 cities across 24 states and union territories under the second phase of the FAME India program.

Image credit: Jzh2074 / CC BY-SA (4.0)