Indian Government's Electric Car Game Plan Suffers Setback

In a big setback for the Indian Government's plans for electric cars, LiveMint is claiming that Ford India may quit an electric car consortium brought together by the Government and the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

Three sources told LiveMint about the company's decision to withdraw from the consortium as it was apparently not viable with regards to finances. One of the sources said, "The direction that has come from the headquarters suggests that the programme is financially unviable and Ford India should rather focus on strengthening its financial and sales performances,"

The consortium was created to boost India's plans to increase electric car production by developing a network of suppliers who would help the consortium in their efforts. The consortium planned to have six electric and hybrid cars in the market by 2020.

The government and four automotive companies other than Ford — Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra, Mahindra Electric and Tata Motors planned to invest a total of Rs. 24,000 crore to help accelerate India's electric future with the government investing Rs. 12,000 crore and the automotive companies providing the rest.

The consortium is part of the government's initiative to counter rising pollution levels by getting six million electric and hybrid vehicles on the roads by 2020 as part of the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 and FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles) programme.

Source - livemint.com