The Government will soon come out with the guidelines for procurement of electric buses (e-buses) and e-trucks under the Prime Minister Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) scheme. It is also likely that the subsidy rates will be reduced so that more vehicles can be rolled out.
Government sources said subsidies are likely to be reduced under the Scheme from three categories of ₹20 lakh, ₹25 lakh and ₹35 lakh, to lesser amounts so that more buses and participants can benefit.
“We have got Payment Security Mechanism (PSM) from Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Surat. For Delhi also it is expected to come soon, so we will have at least five cities now, and we have demand for around 15,000 buses from these cities already. Ahmedabad, Chennai and Kolkata haven’t sent yet. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs now has to take a decision on whether to bring out a tender in the first phase without these three cities or wait for them for another month so that the roll out can happen in one go. So, we will decide on this in a week or two,” a senior government official told businessline.
Accordingly, Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL) will start with the tender process, he said, adding that the subsidies will be given depending on the length of the e-buses (9-meter, 12-meter or 15-meter and seating capacity) and categories like AC, non-AC, low-floor or standard floor.
Apart from the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), operators can also bid for this tender in each of these cities, he said. For instance, Adani Enterprises does not make any buses, but it can apply for the tender to operate the e-buses just like in the last scheme (Pradhan Mantri e-Bus Sewa Scheme), it had bid in the tender floated by CESL. The company’s bids were disqualified because of high rates.
The PM E-DRIVE scheme was implemented from October 1, 2024 and will continue till March 31, 2026 under which e-2 wheelers, e-3 wheelers (e-3Ws), e-ambulances, e-trucks, e-buses, charging infra and upgradation of testing agencies were included as eligible categories for the subsidies with a total outlay of ₹10,900 crore.
For e-buses, a budget of ₹4,391 crore was allocated for 14,028 units, but since the demand number has already increased to 15,000 till now, the government wants to reduce the subsidy rates to accommodate more.
Similarly, for e-trucks the Ministry of Heavy Industries will soon come out with guidelines to decide on the subsidy rates from the total outlay of ₹500 crore under the PM E-DRIVE scheme. The maximum number of e-trucks to be subsidised is expected to be around 2,000 units.