Govt Brings Draft Rule To Lower Tariffs For EV Users

Govt Brings Draft Rule To Lower Tariffs For EV Users

The latest draft rule made by the Ministry of Heavy Industry (MHI) has proposed new benefits under the PM-Drive scheme. The PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) Scheme aims to boost electric mobility in the country with a special focus on electric buses and other electric vehicle segments.

Currently, the EV charging business may not be viable for Charge Point Operators (CPOs) due to low utilization levels and high electricity tariffs. To address this, the government’s latest draft notification introduces subsidies and aims to lower the tariff for EV users. The MHI draft notification states, “With subsidies on upstream infrastructure, MHI aims to improve the viability of CPOs and lower the tariff for EV users. Promoting Renewable Energy (RE)-based EV charging and other smart solutions is a focus. With increasing EV charging demand, there may be a significant load on the grid as EV adoption rises in the coming years. This increased peak load will impact cities with higher EV penetration, leading to grid congestion.”

Outlay under the PM E-DRIVE Scheme

The draft mentioned, “The ministry initially allocated an outlay of Rs. 10,900 crore over two years. To cater to the need for fast chargers, the PM E-DRIVE scheme has an outlay of Rs. 2,000 crore for setting up public fast charging stations. Under this scheme, MHI intends to support the development of EVPCS by extending up to 80% subsidy on upstream infrastructure (behind-the-meter infrastructure) required for setting up public fast charging stations.”

Policy Priority Area

The draft has shortlisted an initial list of cities based on population. The draft identified nine cities with 40 lakhs Plus Population, 44 cities with 10 lakhs Plus Population, and 131 cities in the NCAP Cities category.

The draft further gave a detailed list of priority cities for 4-wheelers which are spread across the top 40 cities. The draft guideline mentioned, “The government has identified a list of the top 40 cities with a high EV share. According to the list, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Pune are at the top. The list also enlisted the top 20 priority highways for corridors based on truck traffic. These major corridors are located between Delhi-Chandigarh, Jaipur-Delhi, Gorakhpur-Lucknow, Vijayawada-Vishakhapatnam, and Chandigarh-Ludhiana-Amritsar.”

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These charging stations must meet specific operational specifications to ensure they are user-friendly. The notification emphasizes that the charging stations should support functionalities for EV users. The draft states, “The monthly Uptime Percentage of 98% (excluding power failure-related downtime and scheduled downtime), which means that charging services should be operational and available to EV users at least 98% of the time.”

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Provision also advocated for the use of mobile applications. It stated, “The charging station should be equipped with advanced features like smart metering, cellular capability, and network connectivity, with tie-ups with at least one network service provider to enable advanced remote/online booking of charging slots.”