The Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (hybrid &) Electric vehicles Phase II (FAME II) scheme was implemented in April 2019 by the central government to incentivise buyers to purchase electric 2-wheelers by providing a substantial subsidy on their price. This subsidy was Rs 15,000 per kWh of battery capacity with a maximum cap of 40-percent of the ex-factory price of the 2-wheeler (with a maximum ex-factory price of Rs 1.5 lakh). For this scheme, the central government had set aside Rs 10,000 Crore till the end of March 2024. But with EV two-wheeler sales shooting up dramatically, almost 800,000 EV 2-wheelers have been sold in the country since the inception of this scheme till Feb 15, 2023.

With 80 percent of the targeted one million EV 2-wheelers already having received this subsidy, the government has slashed this subsidy to Rs 10,000 per kWh of battery capacity with an upper cap of 15 percent of the ex-factory price of the vehicle. So currently, while subsidies ranged from Rs 17,000 to Rs 66,000 depending on the battery capacity and price of the 2-wheeler, now, expect them to go as low as Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 for the same vehicles. So all your favourite electric scooter are set to get a significant price hike.

Here is what we expect the new subsidies and approximate price increases would be for some of the country’s top-selling electric two-wheelers.