Industry
Govt notifies phased import duty hike on electric vehicle parts, lithium-ion cellsedit
The government has notified phased increase in basic customs duty on parts of electric passenger vehicles to be assembled in India to 15 per cent from April 2020 and 10 per cent on imported lithium-ion cells by April 2021 to promote domestic manufacturing of EVs.
FAME-II: Subsidies for EV makers will come with ridersedit
Electric automobile makers will be able to avail subsidies under the second phase of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric (& Hybrid) vehicles (FAME) scheme subject to a set of conditions including battery capacities and end-use of vehicles.
Competition
Volvo Says India Is Ready For EVs And Hybrid Cars, Might Bring The Hybrid S60 Sedan Here Soonedit
Volvo has been quite vocal about its plans to switch to an electric portfolio, since 50 percent of its car volumes have to be electric by 2025. By this time, the Swedish auto maker promises to put 1 million electric cars on the roads globally.
International
Porsche has next-gen batteries for longer-range electric vehicles coming next year, says CEOedit
Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said that the automaker has next-generation batteries coming next year for longer-range electric vehicles. He says that Porsche is committed to bring several new plug-in vehicles to market and those new cells will start getting into the lineup next year.
Toyota Says Selling Full-Electric Vehicles Is Less Eco-Friendlyedit
The car industry is in a state of flux at the moment due to a slow transition away from gas-guzzling engines to full electric alternatives with hybrids in the middle. Toyota, which currently doesn’t sell a fully-electric vehicle in the US, believes electric vehicles are actually less eco-friendly than hybrids, and it has a valid reason to back up that claim.
Electric car disruption in Europe is acceleratingedit
Battery-run electric vehicle (BEV) penetration in Europe has increased in 2018 vs a year ago, analysts at JP Morgan write in a note. The analysts see a combined penetration of 2.3 per cent in 2018 for BEV and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) in Europe vs 1.7 per cent in 2017.