New Delhi: The Society of Electric Vehicles Manufacturers (SMEV) has urged the union government to make policies that will help manufacturers in the short-term—starting with a period of three months to three years at the maximum—as that will give clarity to companies that have already invested in the developing and manufacturing of electric vehicles in India.
The electric vehicle manufacturers will also submit their specific suggestions to the different ministries of the Centre on various aspects of electric mobility by the second week of September.
At its executive council meeting on Tuesday, attended by the senior officials of different ministries, the representative group also asked the Centre to help the industry by making short-term policies that will help achieve a target of three million electric vehicles sales in the next three years, starting from 2019.
The group has asked the government to bring back the focus to extreme short-term and medium-term in addition to the long-term target related to electric vehicles, according to Sohinder Gill, director, corporate affairs, SMEV. “Today we have spoken to the government about a setting a target of three million electric vehicle sales starting from the next year,” Gill said.
“What needs to be done in the next three months is extremely important for us rather than something that needs to be done in the next seven years. So we are trying to bring the focus to the short-term, which is three to six months and till the next three years at best and not beyond that,” said Gill.
In the second week of September, SMEV will give its segment wise—from buses to two wheelers—suggestions regarding promotion of various aspects of electric mobility to the different ministers of the union government and the Niti Aayog.
“Manufacturers who are a part of SMEV are more relevant to give suggestion in this space compared to manufacturers who would jump into it after two or three years. There will now be an attempt to come out with an integrated suggestion from the SMEV platform for the next three years with an objective to create three million vehicles,” explained Gill.
The department of heavy industry in the next stage of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme has set a target of increasing the number of electric cars to 4% of the overall new vehicle sales in the next five years starting from 2018-19.
In the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) unveiled in 2013 by then prime minister Manmohan Singh, the target was to achieve sales of 5-6 million electric and hybrid vehicles by 2020 which is much higher than the current number of these vehicles and the target being set by the government in the FAME scheme.