The Union Government recently increased the subsidy on electric 2-wheelers from Rs. 10,000 per KWh to Rs. 15,000 per kWh with an increased cap of 40% of the cost. Whether the increased subsidies spur sales in the electric segment remains to be seen. Here is a review of the numbers. Recently, the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises announced revised subsidy rates for electric bikes and scooters in India under the new Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme which is known as the FAME-II Scheme. The scheme is aimed at promoting faster adoption and manufacturing of electric vehicles in the country. This announcement comes at a time when the country has started recovering from the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic with states gradually relaxing the lockdown restrictions. Both the first wave and second wave of the pandemic hit vehicle sales in the country. In this context, we look at the progress under the FAME Scheme so far and analyse the trends in the sale of electric vehicles in the country. Countries are shifting to cleaner fuels Across the globe, the past decade has witnessed the beginning of countries shifting from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles which are primarily dependent on fossil fuels to cleaner fuels. The beginning of this shift is following concerns over climate change, increase in energy costs, pollution, and depletion of fossil fuels. Electric mobility is considered a viable alternative to ICE which addresses economic challenges, rising urbanization, travel demand, and India’s energy security. However, these are still early days, and the adoption has been slow. The advent of appropriate technology, creation of adequate support infrastructure and introduction of innovative pricing solutions are necessary to boost electric mobility in India. Phase I and II of FAME Scheme have been rolled out under NEMMP 2020 In 2012, the Union Government released the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020, the National Mission document providing the vision and the roadmap for the faster adoption of electric vehicles and their manufacturing in the country. The plan envisioned that by 2020, India would have a fleet of 6 to 7 million electric and hybrid vehicles. As part of the NEMMP 2020, the Department of Heavy Industry formulated the FAME India Scheme in the year 2015 to promote manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicle technology and to ensure sustainable growth of the same. The Phase-I of the FAME India Scheme was initially launched for a period of 2 years, commencing from 01 April 2015, which was subsequently extended from time to time and the last extension was allowed up to 31 March 2019 with the total outlay of Rs. 895 crores. From 01 April 2019, with total budgetary support of Rs. 10,000 crores, the Union Government notified Phase-II of FAME India Scheme. While the first phase was focused on Demand Creation, Technology Platform, Pilot Project, and Charging Infrastructure, the second phase mainly focuses on supporting electrification of public and shared transportation and aims to support, through demand incentive, about 7000 e-Buses, 5 lakh e-3 Wheelers, 55000 e-4 Wheeler Passenger Cars and 10 lakh e-2 Wheelers. In the first phase of the scheme, about 2.8 lakh hybrid and electric vehicles were supported by way of demand incentives. Under Phase-II of the FAME India Scheme, about 77,680 Electric Vehicles have been supported as of 23 June 2021, as per the data on the Ministry’s website. VAHAN dashboard provides data on electric vehicles registrations The VAHAN dashboard provides data on the registration of vehicles from across the country including electric vehicles. Maintained by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH), the VAHAN dashboard is a centralized database of registration of vehicles in 33 out of 37 states/UTs which are enrolled in VAHAN 4.0. The figures from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Lakshadweep, and Madhya Pradesh are not included here. The figures pertain to 1294 RTOs of the total 1497 RTOs in the country. Electric vehicle registrations increased, but still very meagre of the overall numbers Data from the VAHAN dashboard reveals that there has been a considerable increase in the number of electric vehicles registered in India since 2012. From less than 6,000 electric vehicles registered in 2012, the number dropped to less than half (2,433) electric vehicles in 2014. However, in 2015, the number of electric vehicles registered crossed 9,000 following the launch of the first phase of the FAME scheme. In the following year 2016, electric vehicle registration increased by nearly 5.7 times, crossing the 50,000 mark.