National Electric Mobility Mission Plan

WHY IN NEWS?

The Supreme Court has sought the response of the government on a petition that alleges non-implementation of the National E-Mobility Mission Plan, 2020.

ABOUT NATIONAL E-MOBILITY PLAN

• The National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 is a National Mission document providing the vision and the roadmap for the faster adoption of electric vehicles and their manufacturing in the country launched by the government in 2013.
• This plan has been designed to enhance national fuel security, to provide affordable and environmentally friendly transportation and to enable the Indian automotive industry to achieve global manufacturing leadership.
• There is an ambitious target to achieve 6-7 million sales of hybrid and electric vehicles year on year from 2020 onwards.
• It is expected to save 9500 Million Liters of crude oil equivalent to Rs. 62000 Cr. savings.
• An enabling mechanism has been set up for speedier decision making and for ensuring greater collaboration amongst various stakeholders.
• This consists of empowered bodies at the apex level in the form of National Council for Electric Mobility (NCEM) and the National Board for Electric Mobility (NBEM).

FAME Scheme

• As part of the NEMMP 2020, Department of Heavy Industry formulated a Scheme viz. Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) Scheme in the year 2015 to promote manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicle technology and to ensure sustainable growth of the same.
• The Phase-I of this Scheme was initially launched for a period of 2 years, commencing from 1st April 2015, which was subsequently extended from time to time and the last extension was allowed up to 31st March 2019.
• The 1st Phase of FAME India Scheme was implemented through four focus areas namely (i) Demand Creation, (ii) Technology Platform, (iii) Pilot Project and (iv) Charging Infrastructure.
• Based on the experience gained in the Phase-I of FAME India Scheme, it has been observed that sufficient number of charging infrastructure is required to achieve expected outcome of the plan, which is being addressed presently in Phase-II of FAME Scheme.

Other initiatives

• Various initiatives have been taken by the Government to promote electric mobility in the country. Some of them are summarized hereunder:
  • Under new GST regime, the rate of GST on Electric Vehicles has been kept in the lower bracket of 12% (with no Cess) as against the 28% GST rate with Cess up to 22% for conventional vehicles.
  • Ministry of Power has allowed sale of electricity as ‘service’ for charging of electric vehicles. This would provide a huge incentive to attract investments into charging infrastructure.
  • Ministry of Road Transport Highways issued notification regarding exemption of permit in case of battery-operated vehicles.
  • Issue of Expression of Interest (EoI) for deployment of 5000 electric buses by State Transport Departments/Undertakings etc.

Prelims Question

Q. Which of the following statements regarding National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP), 2020 is/are correct?
1. It aims to achieve 6-7 million sales of hybrid and electric vehicles year on year from 2020 onwards
2. FAME India Scheme has been implemented as part of NEEMP, 2020
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
a. 1 only
b. 2 only
c. Both 1 and 2
d. Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to the Prelims Question