A new scheme launched as part of the Centre’s PM E-Drive initiative offers incentives of up to ₹9.6 lakh per vehicle in the form of upfront reduction in the purchase price of the vehicle which will be reimbursed to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) through the PM E-DRIVE portal on a first-come, first-served basis, said H D Kumaraswamy, Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Steel on Friday.
The government has earmarked an outlay of ₹10,900 crore for the scheme, of which ₹500 crore is for up to 5,600 electric trucks. It will include ports, logistics, cement, and steel industries as key beneficiaries.
In a post on X, the minister said this effort will also boost ‘Make in India’ goals, encourage localisation, reduce logistics cost, and create green jobs across EV and battery value chains.
Also Read: Karnataka seeks electric buses under PM e-Drive Scheme
Urging transporters, OEMs, and industries to join them in “this transformative shift toward sustainable mobility”, Kumaraswamy added that the scheme includes e-2 wheelers, e-3 wheelers, electric ambulances, and fleet of buses: 4,500 buses sanctioned for Bengaluru, 2,800 buses for Delhi, 2,000 buses for Hyderabad, 1,000 buses for Ahmedabad and 600 for Surat.
“Diesel trucks, though constituting only 3 per cent of the total vehicle population, contribute to 42 per cent of transport-related greenhouse gas emissions and significantly worsen air pollution. This scheme, guided by the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, represents India’s first dedicated support for electric trucks. It will drive our nation toward sustainable freight mobility, a cleaner future, and the realization of Viksit Bharat by 2047, in alignment with our net-zero emissions goal by 2070,” the minister said.
However, scrapping of old polluting trucks is mandatory to avail incentives for e-trucks, he informed.
“To promote affordability, the incentive will depend on the gross vehicle weight of the electric truck; the highest level of incentive that can be availed being ₹9.6 lakh. These incentives will be provided as an upfront reduction in the purchase price and reimbursed to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) through the PM E-DRIVE portal on a first-come, first-served basis,” he stated.
Demand incentives will also be extended to N2 and N3 category electric trucks, said the ministry, as defined under the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR). The N2 category includes trucks with gross vehicle weight (GVW) above 3.5 tonnes and up to 12 tonnes, while the N3 category covers trucks with GVW exceeding 12 tonnes and up to 55 tonnes.
To ensure reliability of electric trucks, the manufacturers will provide a comprehensive manufacturer-backed warranty that includes a five-years or 5-lakh-kilometres warranty for battery, while the warranty for vehicle and motor shall be five years or 2.5 lakh kilometres, whichever is earlier, it was further stated.
“While the FAME scheme did not have any component on electric trucks, this scheme is called ‘customer facing’ because in this, we encourage customers to purchase electric trucks by providing them a reasonable subsidy so that this movement can be driven from demand side as well as supply side,” informed Kamran Rizvi, secretary in the heavy industries ministry.
Indigenous manufacture is also promoted under the scheme, whereby import of components is allowed minimally while majority sourcing has to be done from within the country.
The Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has committed to procure 150 e-trucks over the next two years for deployment across multiple locations. Additionally, SAIL has set an internal target to ensure that at least 15 per cent of all vehicles hired across its units are electric.
The scheme’s performance has so far been most robust in the two- and three-wheeler segments.
“In the three-wheeler segment, we had kept a target of about two lakh three-wheelers for a period of two years; but as of today, 1.6 lakh three-wheelers have already been supported. In the two-wheeler segment, we had planned around 24.5 lakh two-wheelers to be supported, whereas around 12 lakh two-wheelers have already been supported,” Rizvi said.
One electric ambulances has been homologated last month, said the minister, and other OEMs are in the process of making electric ambulances.
“By December or January, electric ambulances will be out. We have consulted with the ministries of Health and Road Transport to make guidelines for electric ambulances in terms of safety and patient care. The guidelines will be released by the time the electric ambulances are out,” Rizvi said.
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