bhel: PM E-Drive halfway down the road for 2 & 3-wheelers: HD Kumaraswamy

Time of India

2 days ago

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New Delhi: The PM E-Drive scheme , which seeks to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles, has so far achieved nearly 50% of its targets for two- and three-wheeler sales, said union steel and heavy industries minister HD Kumaraswamy At 155,085 units, more than 75% of the target for the sale of large electric three-wheelers has already been achieved as of May 30, the minister said. Under the electric two-wheeler category, 1,198,707 units have been sold, meeting 48% of the scheme target so far, he told ET in an interview Sunday, adding that this scheme is routinely being reviewed to address any concerns.The scheme, started in September 2024, will run till March 2026.The minister also said steps are being taken to improve project execution by state-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd BHEL ).Under PM E-Drive, he said, the e-rickshaw or e-cart category has grossly underperformed the other segments, achieving just 2% of the scheme target at 2,736 units.Commenting on the deliverables for electric buses under the scheme, Kumaraswamy said: "So far, 10,900 e-buses have been approved, with deployment expected in Karnataka, Delhi, Telangana and Gujarat. Demand for another 1,000 e-buses has been raised by Pune which is yet to be approved. The tender will be floated this week by Convergence Energy Services."The PM E-Drive Scheme has allocated ₹4,391 crore for deployment of 14,028 e-buses in nine major cities. He said a payment security mechanism shall ensure that e-bus suppliers get the payments on time."Direct debit mandate with the RBI has been signed by Karnataka, Telangana and Gujarat. Delhi has agreed to the DDM," he said.Under this mechanism, the central bank can debit the accounts of states if there is any shortfall in payments to e-bus suppliers."Total demand for 14,400 e-buses has come from cities. The current allocation has been considered for 10,900 e-buses in the Phase I," Kumaraswamy said. "Talks are on with remaining states. Their demand will be taken up in the next phase."His ministry also administers BHEL, which today has a healthy orderbook with the surge in thermal power capacity addition. But the company has historically struggled with meeting timelines.On steps expected to improve BHEL's deliverables, he said: "Processes are being refined along with many new initiatives which are vendor friendly, inviting more participation to meet spurt in material and manpower demand."