Tata Motors pushes for e-taxi subsidy after exclusion from PM E-Drive

livemint.com:

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : Tata Motors Ltd, India’s leading electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, is engaging with the Centre to re-examine the e-taxi segment's exclusion from the ₹10,900 crore EV subsidy scheme approved by the cabinet on 11 September, two people close to the development said. The PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE), marking the third phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) policy, leaves the e-taxi segment outside the purview of subsidies, even though it is a key form of shared mobility.

The carmaker is lobbying the government to consider the significant CO2 emissions from the cab segment because of the high daily mileage. And to reduce environmental impact in the transportation sector, it's crucial to replace cab fleets with EVs. Sales to fleet customers such as Uber and BluSmart account for 20% of Tata Motors' total EV volumes, said P.B.

Balaji, Tata Motors' group chief financial officer, in the first-quarter post-earnings conference on 31 July, adding that the absence of FAME II incentives in the June quarter and July did impact the company's fleet sales. Tata Motors' EV sales were down 14% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 16,579 units for the quarter ended 30 June. In July, the decline extended to 21% y-o-y.

Further, conventional passenger vehicles also saw a 6% y-o-y fall in sales in the first quarter of 2024-25, even as the company announced impressive revenue and profit growth led by sales of its luxury car unit, Jaguar Land Rover. Mint's emailed queries to Tata Motors remained unanswered till press time. Since 2015, over 1.6 million EVs have been subsidized in the first two phases of FAME, including