Hyderabad: In Telangana, only 6,316 electric vehicles (EVs) were sold under the FAME (Faster Adoption of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles) program in India.
On December 9, FAME sales were the lowest in Telangana state compared to other states such as Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
Karnataka led all states with sales of 33,483 electric vehicles, followed by Tamil Nadu with 24,638 electric vehicles sold and Maharashtra with 20,955 electric vehicles. A total of 1.78 lakh electric vehicles conforming to the FAME initiative have been sold across the country, Minister of State for Heavy Industry Krishan Pal Gurjar said in a written response to Lok Sabha on Nov. 28.
In a separate response, the minister said electric car sales had been impacted over the past two years due to the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
“Automobile production and sales have been impacted due to the lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19,” he added.
While the number of electric vehicle charging stations installed by FAME in the state of Telangana is the second highest in the country. Telangana has 56 EV charging stations, behind Delhi which has 94 EV charging stations installed. As part of the FAME project, 452 charging stations for electric vehicles were installed across India.
What is the FAME scheme?
In March 2015, the Indian trade union government announced the FAME-I India program to promote the use of electric vehicles. Based on the results and experiences from Phase I and after consultation with all stakeholders, the Indian trade union government has completed Phase II of the FAME India program; which will be in force for five years. The scheme came into effect on April 1, 2019 with a total budget contribution of Rs 10,000 crore.
Phase II focuses and aims to support electric vehicle buyers through subsidies. The union government wants to subsidize 7,000 e-buses, five lakh e-tricycles, 55,000 e-four-wheelers (cars) and 10 lakh e-two-wheelers. The installation of charging infrastructure is also funded.
Charging electric vehicles in Hyderabad costs 12 rupees per kWh
As the Telangana state government accelerates the establishment of public charging stations, electric vehicle (EV) owners will soon be able to charge their vehicles for Rs 12.06 kilowatts per hour (kWh) as a service cost.
With the support of government incentives, according to the Telangana State Renewable Energy Development Corporation (TSREDCO), around 118 public charging stations for vehicles are being built across Hyderabad. These charging stations are being built as part of the FAME II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles) program.
The Department of Heavy Industries has proposed this strategy to encourage the use of electric vehicles by providing accessible charging stations. In addition to Hyderabad, another 20 public charging stations will be built in Warangal and Karimnagar, bringing the total number of public charging stations to 138. There are already some private charging stations in Hyderabad City. Officials said that all of these will be ready by March.
