The Centre has paid ₹344 crore as subsidy to electric vehicle (EVs) manufacturers till December 16 under the Prime Minister Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) scheme, which started on October 1.

As of now, only electric two- (e2W) and three-wheelers (e3W) and e-cart/rickshaw are getting the subsidies since other segments such as e-ambulances, e-buses and e-trucks are yet to be started.

The claimed amount till December 16 stands at ₹679 crore, sources from the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) told businessline, adding that it has also rejected claims of ₹11.5 crore due to mismatch in details.

“There were some reasons like buyer’s name mismatch. For instance, when the vehicle was registered, it was under a different name but when the manufacturer uploaded the name on our website, it was some other name.”

“Another reason was battery number mismatch. We get to know that the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) had changed some defective batteries with new ones while delivering to the owner; so in those cases we have to reject the subsidy amount,” a senior official at MHI said.

In such cases, it is the OEM’s loss as they are giving the discount in advance, and the government cannot help, he said.

As of October, the e2W industry sold 1,34,985 units as compared with 64,506 units in the same month last year. By March, the industry is expected reach up to 1,58,000 units per month.

According to MHI, the e2W sales are expected to reach up to 12.87 lakh units in FY2025 as compared to 8.11 lakh units in FY2024. The e3W segment, which also gets benefit under the scheme, is expected to reach 35,240 units per month by March.

The industry sold 15,435 units in October. According to the MHI, the electric three-wheeler market is expected to reach 1.8 lakh units in FY 2025 from 93,000 units in FY 2024.

With regard to electric trucks, ambulances and buses, the official said there is no disbursement of any subsidy since there is no manufacturer for these vehicles yet.

There are very few OEMs who are making electric trucks.

For e-buses, he said the implementation would start once the requests start coming from the State governments after implementation of the guidelines.