MoHI Launches India's First Incentive Scheme for Electric Trucks Under PM E DRIVE to Promote Green Freight Mobility.
National
The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MoHI) recently unveiled India’s first dedicated incentive scheme for electric trucks (e‑trucks) under the PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E‑DRIVE) programme.
- Announced on 11 July 2025 by Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel H. D. Kumaraswamy, the initiative offers financial incentives to accelerate adoption of clean freight vehicles.
- The scheme provides demand incentives of up to ₹9.6 lakh per electric truck—across N2 and N3 categories as per the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR)—to help offset high upfront costs. It targets deployment of 5,600 e‑trucks nationally, including 1,100 vehicles in Delhi, supported by a dedicated ₹100 crore sub‑allocation.
- To ensure reliability and long-term performance, manufacturer-backed warranties are mandatory: batteries for 5 years or 5 lakh km, and vehicle plus motor for 5 years or 2.5 lakh km, whichever comes first. Incentives will be passed on as upfront price reductions and reimbursed to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) through the PM E‑DRIVE portal on a first-come, first-served basis.
Main Point :- (i) The scheme also mandates the scrapping of older diesel trucks, helping to reduce emissions and modernise logistics fleets. Priority deployment is aimed at key sectors: cement, ports, steel, and logistics, with major OEMs like Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, and Volvo Eicher already supplying electric trucks.
(ii) As part of the initiative, SAIL (Steel Authority of India Limited) has committed to procuring 150 e‑trucks over two years and ensuring 15% of its hired fleet is electric. Analysts expect the scheme will significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions, improve urban air quality, and support PM E‑DRIVE’s goal of reducing total cost of ownership (TCO) for fleet operators.
(iii) This move marks a major policy shift under the PM E‑DRIVE umbrella, which originally approved by the Cabinet in September 2024 with a ₹10,900 crore outlay. The e-truck sub-scheme alone has been allocated ₹500 crore to accelerate India’s green freight transition toward its net-zero by 2070 and Viksit Bharat by 2047 commitments.
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