While the asking price on the e2o has reduced, the FAME scheme doesn’t extend to Mahindra’s battery rental scheme that continues at Rs. 2999/- per month.
Things are looking positive now for electric vehicles in India with the launch of the FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) initiative providing incentives to electric car makers. Under the new scheme, Mahindra has become one of the early adopters of the same and have reduced the price of the e2o electric car in the country. The Mahindra e2o now comes with a starting price of Rs. 4.99 lakhs for the T2 variant, which earlier retailed at Rs. 6.76 lakhs. The e2o T2O Quick2Charge variant now retails at Rs. 5.38 lakhs instead of the earlier price of Rs. 7 lakhs (all prices, ex-showroom Mumbai).
Mahindra stated that the new incentives applicable on the e2o are over and above all discounts that are currently provided by the company. At present, the discount is available in all major cities including Delhi and NCR, Kolkata, Greater Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, smart cities as well as cities with one million plus population as notified by the government. The new incentive, however, does not extend to the e2o’s battery rental scheme that is still available at Rs. 2999/- per month.
The FAME scheme comes as a major boon to the sluggish electric industry in India, helping reduce the country’s dependency on fossil fuels that is said to be 70 percent in the next ten years. Moreover, with pollution concerns being a major problem in major cities, electric cars will be a viable alternative to the CO2 emitting conventional cars. Under the FAME scheme, the Indian government has allocated Rs. 795 crores for the next two financial years (2015-16 and 2016-17) towards providing incentives and hybrid vehicle development and will be applicable to the electric vehicles that are manufactured in the country and not CBUs.
Apart from the incentives, the earmarked amount will also be used to develop charging infrastructure, promote pilot projects and improve the technology and battery life on electric vehicles. In fact, the FAME scheme will also encourage more manufacturers to launch electric vehicles in the country with emphasis on local assembly in a bid to avail the incentives.
