Government likely to give final approval to FAME II before March 31: Report

The Government may give its finally approval to Rs 5,500 crore second lap of  Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME II) scheme before March end this year claims a report.

AR Sihag, secretary, ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises (MHI&PE) speaking to ET said that in the new policy applicable for five years, the government seeks to prioritize support for public transportation, shared mobility, and smaller electric vehicles like two-wheelers.

Under the FAME II scheme the government also envisions installing 300 EV charging stations along highways by the end of 2019.

According to the report Delhi-Jaipur-Agra highway triangle and the Mumbai-Pune highway has been identified for the initial installation of charging stations.

Sihag speaking to the publication said “(In FAME-2) we have done away with lead-acid batteries, we have moved to advanced batteries. That’s a major change we have made moving forward.”

The policy will bring other major changes, this time the focus will be on electrification of buses which is based on the response the government received in the first phase of FAME. A total of 47 proposals were received stating a requirement of 3,144 buses across 44 cities says the report

Sihag further added “We were not able to meet all the aspirations. There is unmet demand. So, we are capitalising on that and we are building upon that element also.”