Electric Vehicles This Week: Electric Two-Wheeler Sales Under FAME II Drop, Tata Motor To Setup EV Cluster

Earlier this week, the minister of heavy industries and public enterprises Arvind Ganpat Sawant told Rajya Sabha that only five OEMs have registered themselves under the FAME II scheme, since its launch in April.

Ather Energy, Ampere, Okinawa, Jitendra Electric Vehicles, and Hero Electric as the five manufacturers who were found eligible for the government subsidies under the FAME II directives, according to an industry body Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV).

Further, SMEV has also reported that electric two-wheeler sales under FAME II have dropped to a mere 1,700 in the quarter ending on June 31, as compared to 30,000 vehicles being sold in the corresponding quarter of 2018. 

Earlier a total of 18 electric two-wheeler manufacturers were eligible for subsidies under FAME I scheme but after FAME II implementations most of these manufacturers are said to have lost benefits because of not being able to qualify for certification. 

Chart of the week: Global Electric Two Wheeler Sales 

 

EV News From India 

Karnataka To Mark Out 600 Acres For An Industrial EV Cluster

The government of Karnataka is now exploring plans to set up electric vehicle clusters with the help of stakeholders. Gunjan Krishna, director of industries and commerce, government of Karnataka reportedly said that some of the initiatives the state government is working on include re-skilling, testing centre, incubation centre and centre of excellence. Further, once the government is ready it will provide 600 acres of land around Bengaluru to build an EV cluster apart from incentivising them.

Tata Motors To Set Up 500 Public EV Charging Stations By 2021

Tata Motors has announced plans to launch 500 public EV charging stations with fast-charging facility by 2021, along with Tata Power. The EV charging stations would be set up in major cities to begin with and the first 300 are set to be located in metros such as Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. While the locations for the remaining charging stations have not been announced, it looks like Tata Motors is targetting the urban sector as that’s where electric vehicles are a greater need, and charging stations would come at a premium.

Revolt Intellicorp Rolls Out First RV 400 

Unveiled in June, the RV 400 is currently available in two bold color options – Rebel Red and Cosmic Black. The AI-enabled motorcycle has an ARAI certified range of 156 kms and a top speed of 85 km/hr. The motorcycle has received an incredible response from customers (Delhi and Pune only), clocking over 2500 bookings in two weeks through RevoltMotors.com and Amazon.in. 

Startup of the week: Euler Motors

Founded by Saurav Kumar in 2018, Euler Motors is an electric mobility company which builds a range of EV related products, including 5.76 KWh lithium-ion battery packs, EV charging and service stations, powertrain control system, battery thermal management system, and telematics. It also claims to have also installed over 70 electric vehicle charging stations within Delhi-NCR.

Euler Motors has so far raised $2 Mn from investors such as Blume Venture, Emergent Ventures and Andrew Lee. The company is now planning to launch its three-wheeler light commercial cargo vehicles by early next year. Around 100 prototype electric vehicles of Euler Motors are already running on Delhi-NCR roads used by companies such as BigBasket, EcomExpress, BlueDart, and Udaan, for their last-mile delivery.

These electric cargo prototypes are said to have a range of 80-100 Kms, and the capacity to carry 500 Kg weight. The company performs its research, manufacturing, and assembly from its two centres in Faridabad, Haryana and Okhla Industrial Area, New Delhi.

 

EV News From Around The World

Beijing Subsidy Cut Affects Sales Of China’s EV Major BYD 

In late June, Beijing has started cutting electric vehicle subsidies by half and as a result of which, China’s EV market has slowed down. The dip in the monthly sales figure of the China’s largest EV manufacturer BYD, can be a telling sign of the impending slowdown in the country’s EV sales. The carmaker has reported to have sold 16.5K units in July including electric and plug-in hybrids, which is 38% less from the last month.

Plug-In Electric Car Sales Rise By 18% In Norway

Global leader in EV adoption, Norway has touched another milestone in terms of plug-in electric car sales. Norway has reported that the ratio of BEVs to PHEVs to have reached close to 4:1. Overall, the new car registrations have increased by 18.4% year-on-year to touch 4.4K, which makes up the market share of 48.2%.