Over 9.66 Lakh Electric Vehicles On Roads Across The Country At Present: Govt

The government on Friday (11 February) said that over 966,363 electric vehicles are presently on roads across the country.

The maximum number of EVs are in Uttar Pradesh (276,217), followed by Delhi (132,302), Karnataka (82,046), Bihar (64,241), Maharashtra (58,815), Rajasthan (53,141) and Tamil Nadu (50,296), according to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways' e-vahan portal.

The information was given by y the Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries Krishan Pal Gurjar in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

The minister said that to promote adoption of hybrid and electric vehicles in the country, the government had launched the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) Scheme since 2015 on pan India basis.

To promote adoption of EVs, the government also approved a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for manufacturing of Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) to bring down prices of battery in the country, which will result in cost reduction of electric vehicles, the minister said.

Further, EVs are covered under Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for Automobile and Auto Components, which was approved on 15 September 2021 with a budgetary outlay of Rs 25,938 crore for a period of five years.

Meanwhile, the GST on electric vehicles has been reduced from 12 per cent to 5 per cent as well as the GST on chargers and charging stations for electric vehicles has been reduced from 18 per cent to 5 per cent, the minister informed.