Week 38 (Sep 13 - 19)
150 e-bus tender in Pune, EV players confused about delinking battery & vehicle, FAME II report card so far, Entuple fund raising plans and Volkswagen delaying launch of their EVs in India.
Pune announces tender for another 150 e-Buses under FAME-II. Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) has invited a fresh tender of supply, operations & maintenance of 150 e-buses under FAME II Scheme and development of allied infrastructure on GCC basis. The last day for the online submission of technical and price bids is September 30, 2020. As per the RFP document, buses should be 12m in length, Air Conditioned and BRT compliant with a range of 225kms on a single charge. The operators need to guarantee range of 225km per day for the next 10 years and build charging infrastructure to support operations. Overall PMPML plans to deplo 650 e-buses across three phases. The first two phases of 150 and 350 buses, respectively, are subsidised by the state government and the centre’s Smart Cities Mission. In Week #5 substack we talked about the experience of e-Buses in Pune City.
Industry confused as India takes the battery out of EVs to boost demand. The EV industry is split over MORTH’s recent clarification allowing the sale of EVs without the battery. The battery could either be provided separately by vehicle makers or by charging service providers, as a service model. With battery totaling 35-40% of the cost of the vehicle, separating the two will no doubt reduce the price for the end customer, but also bring in challenges with respect to safety, interoperability, warranty and subsidy. Subsidies under FAME II scheme are tied to the battery capacity of the vehicle, and if the battery can be retrofitted by the customer, does it still qualify for the demand incentives? Moreover the industry has been clamoring to reduce GST from 18% to 5% (inline with GST on vehicles)
Over 27k EVs supported till Sep 10 under phase-II of FAME scheme. By way of demand incentives under the FAME II scheme, Government has given support to over 27,000 electric vehicles amounting to Rs 95 Cr, sanctioned 5595 electrical buses to various state/ city transport undertakings amounting to Rs 2800 Cr and setup 2636 charging stations amounting to Rs 500 Cr. The Rs10,000 crore, three-year FAME II program, which will run until April 2022, followed the original, Rs895 crore FAME India Scheme, which was launched in April 2015. The current phase of the program aims to drive 10 lakh electric two-wheelers, 5 lakh electric three-wheelers, 55,000 four-wheelers and 7,000 buses as well as establishing 2,700 charging stations such that one is available every three square kilometers.
EV Component maker Entuple E-mobility plans to raise $3M. Bangalore-based EV components manufacturer Entuple is looking to raise funds to setup its power train manufacturing plant for electric two wheelers. The company’s existing facility which makes frame-mounter motors for e3Ws & e4Ws will be upgraded from 6000 to 96000 powertrains, while a new facility to manufacture hub mounted motors and controllers for e2Ws will be setup. Homologation and indigenous production of EV components will further reduce the price of the car as well as encourage the ecosystem.
Volkswagen going slow on EV launch in India. Despite investing $2.2B to ramp up EV production in China, the German automaker has no plans to launch its EVs in India. Volkwagen blames lack of infrastructure and high price elasticity today and will continue to evaluate future opportunities in India. Last year, Volkswagen Group developed the Modular Electric Drive Matrix (MEB), a new EV platform on which all its brands will be based upon. Earlier this month they launched the ID4, electric SUV which has a 78 KWh battery and a range of 550+ Km. ID4 follows the succesful launch of its ID3 hatchback which has sold over 37000 units worldwide. The Group has set a 2025 deadline to manufacture and sell 1.5 million electric cars.
Other News