Well, they’re working on a plan.
The first phase of the program provides incentives for electric and hybrid bikes and cars. The next phase will include additional incentives for public transportation including for electric buses, three-wheelers and taxis.
The government also is developing a no-money-down electric car purchasing program that lets buyers pay the loan back out of their fossil-fuel savings. “India can become the first country of its size which will run 100 percent of electric vehicles,” Power Minister Piyush Goyal said recently in New Delhi.
They have a long way to go. Electronic and hybrid vehicles make up just 1.3 percent of passenger vehicle sales in India.
The FAME-India initiative (for Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles), launched in 2012, supports electric vehicle market development and manufacturing.
Government officials just extended Phase One, which includes demand incentives of ₹127.77 crore ($20 million) for the purchase of more than 1,700 electric and hybrid bikes and cars.
That may not be enough to budge the consumer market. Electric vehicles are still too costly, power outages too common and charging infrastructure too scarce. The Financial Express reports: “Experts believe that the provision of funds is insufficient to incentivize the use of electric vehicles.”
