FAME – NATIONAL ELECTRONIC MOBILITY MISSION

Part of: GS-III- Economy-Automobile (PT-MAINS-PERSONALITY TEST)

The government of India notified FAME India Scheme [Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India] for implementation with effect from 1st April 2015, with the objective to support hybrid/electric vehicles market development and Manufacturing eco-system.

Objective

The FAME India Scheme is aimed at incentivising all vehicle segments i.e. 2 Wheeler, 3 Wheeler Auto, Passenger 4 Wheeler Vehicle, Light Commercial Vehicles and Buses. The scheme covers Hybrid & Electric technologies like Mild Hybrid, Strong Hybrid, Plug-in Hybrid & Battery Electric Vehicles.

• Monitoring Authority: Department of Heavy Industries
• Fame India Scheme has four focus Areas.
  • Technology development
  • Demand Creation
  • Pilot Projects
  • Charging Infrastructure
• Target: National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) has set a huge target to deploy 48 lakh 2W EVs and 15 lakh 4W EVs by 2020

Analysis of focus areas

• Technology development: There are two types of technology related with FAME: Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs)

Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs)

• India has a scarcity of lithium and will have to rely on expensive imports to sustain a growing BEV industry as lithium is the best battery technology and delivers high energy and high power.
• Current battery technology is not mature enough to allow BEVs to compete with fossil fuel-based vehicles. As the energy efficiency capacity of BEVs is 100 times less than petrol and diesel vehicles, it provides a low range per charge.
• Another technical deficiency of BEVs is that their speed and acceleration is lower than conventional fuel-based vehicles because of the low power capacity of batteries.

Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs)

An HEV has a conventional internal combustion engine propulsion system plus an electric propulsion system consisting of a battery and a motor. This makes HEVs heavy and expensive. Therefore as per the current technology, it can only be used in a light commercial vehicles.

Steps Under FAME for technological development

• Under the FAME-India scheme, a nodal body, the DHI-DST Inter-Ministerial Technology Advisory Group (IM-TAG) on Electric Mobility has been set up.
• A few long-term projects are already underway under the auto-cess funded R&D programme.
• A collaborative approach between the industry and academia is envisaged, which would include government-funded as well as PPP projects.

Demand Creation

• Incentives, in the form of discounts, is provided under FAME. The discount amount is about one-third of the difference between the price of an EV and a comparable petrol vehicle.

Pilot Projects

• Phase 1 of FAME PROVIDED incentives for private vehicles.
• Phase 2 of FAME will provide incentives for public transport in 10 cities. The outlay of? 10,000 crore has been made for three years till 2022 for the FAME 2 scheme. The centre has sanctioned? 8,596 crore for incentives, of which? 1,000 crore has been earmarked for setting up charging stations for electric vehicles in India. The government will offer incentives for electric buses, three-wheelers and four-wheelers to be used for commercial purposes. Plug-in hybrid vehicles and those with a sizeable lithium-ion battery and electric motor will also be included in the scheme and fiscal support offered depending on the size of the battery.

Steps were taken by the Government

• The government has to set up additional power generation infrastructure in order to make EVs more attractive.
• Upcoming smart grids in India can play a significant role in improving the charging infrastructure. Smart grids can help in optimising electricity needs at peaking demand hours for utility purposes and for BEV charging. For example, Bosch has set up one such infrastructure in Germany with Mobile connectivity to provide information.

Fame-2

Electric and hybrid vehicle (EVs) manufacturers will have to indigenise a significant portion of components to avail of benefits under a revised set of rules of phase 2 of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles, or FAME 2 scheme. In a first, detailed localization draft guidelines have been issued by the Department of Heavy Industry (DHI) putting out a list of key components for xEV manufacturers to localise with respective deadlines to avail the scheme across all approved vehicle categories.

A decent exchange-Barter System in Fiji

Introduction

Karl Marx thought, about a century-and-a-half ago, that society moved from primitive communism, through various forms and structures of inequality, to communism proper. Economic systems moved forward, resolving their contradictions and creating new ones. Turns out he was, at best, only half right.

Back to the earlier Economic system amidst COVID-19

Mediums of exchange with fictional value — money, in all its forms and abstractions — are premised on a leap of faith.

People accept the “promise to pay the bearer” from a distant authority, and lives, communities, economies and civilisations are built on this trust.

But when the system isn’t enough, and the margins swell enough to flood the entire system, a different, more relatable form of exchange comes into place.

In Fiji, and many other Pacific Island nations, COVID-19 has forced a return to the barter system.

In epidemiological terms, the region has been relatively less affected by the pandemic: At the end of April, only six Pacific countries and territories between them have reported 260 cases and seven deaths.

Yet, over 10 per cent of Fiji’s population — 1,00,000 people — are active on a Facebook group called “Barter for a Better Fiji”. Similar groups have cropped up in Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu.

The tourism sector in the region is devastated, and people are out of work.

Yet, in the absence of money, many are sustaining themselves through work, and the dignity of social exchanges that engenders.

How the barter system can work in the 21^st century?

Labour — whether you’re a carpenter, teacher or accountant — can be exchanged for meat, food and other commodities.

Professional photography lessons are being exchanged for food.

The idea behind this network of exchanges is simple: An economic crisis need not descend into a humanitarian one.

Thinking of what each member of society can offer, and negotiating the value of that good/service might not lead to a Utopian ideal of equality.

But as the world struggles to treat people with decency amid a pandemic, it is at least a more moral equilibrium.

Lockdown air: less NO2, same PM2.5 and more urban ozone

Introduction

While traffic pollution has been falling, the lockdown may be leading to the generation of a dangerous pollutant, urban ozone, which can cause airway inflammation in humans.

The research is specific to the UK. It has been conducted by experts from The University of Manchester.

Nitrogen oxides

Levels of nitrogen oxides were found reduced in most locations in the UK during mid-March and April. The level of decline ranges from 20% to 80 %.

Levels of nitrogen oxides fall less in rural areas than in urban areas, and they are higher in the morning than compared later in the day.

PM2.5

There was no evidence of a decrease in PM2.5. These particles are produced by vehicles, they are also known to originate from domestic wood burning and chemical reactions involving emissions from industry and agriculture, so there has been no significant improvement in air quality in that regard.

Urban ozone

The Manchester team speculated that photochemical production of ozone may become more important in urban areas during summertime in these low conditions of oxides of nitrogen.

As nitrogen oxides reduce, photochemical production may become more efficient and can lead to higher ozone concentrations in the summertime as higher temperatures increase emissions of biogenic hydrocarbon from natural sources such as trees.

These biogenic hydrocarbons significantly affect urban ozone levels.

While ozone is important for screening harmful solar UV radiation when present higher up in the atmosphere, it can be a danger at the Earth’s surface and can react to destroy or alter many biological molecules.

After pharma, pesticide industry eyes make in India Opportunity

The big opportunity the Indian industry has to undertake is the manufacturing of active ingredients that are scheduled to lose patent protection in the next few years. While the focus has been on pharmaceuticals, the issue of “Chinese dependence” is coming to the fore, especially post Covid-19, also in pesticides.

India’s imports of crop protection chemicals – mainly the technical material or active ingredients that go into making end-use formulations – stood at Rs 9,266.84 crore in 2018-19, most of it coming from China (Rs 4,904.28 crore), US (Rs 1,050.69 crore) and Germany (Rs 614.53 crore). “Just as in pharma, the government should encourage backward integration by our industry to reduce excessive reliance on imports of technicals, particularly from China,” says experts The Rs 1,250-crore annual sales company – along with UPL, Gharda Chemicals, PI Industries, Meghmani Organics, Indofil Industries, Coromandel International and NACL Industries (formerly Nagarjuna Agrichem) – is among the few major domestic manufacturers of technical grade pesticides. This company manufactures technical-grade products that include herbicides (bispyribac-sodium, pretilachlor and atrazine), insecticides (lambda-cyhalothrin, bifenthrin and thiamethoxam) and fungicides (thiophanate methyl). (PT)

Significantly, India, in 2018-19, exported crop protection chemicals worth Rs 22,090.18 crore, a large part of it to Brazil (Rs 4,314.74 crore) and the US (Rs 4,238.63 crore). “

The one big opportunity the Indian industry has is to undertake to manufacture of active ingredients that are scheduled to lose patent protection in the next few years. These include chlorantraniliprole and cyantraniliprole (both blockbuster insecticides of DuPont sold to FMC Corporation of US in 2017, while marketed under ‘Collagen’ and ‘Benavia’ brands, with their patents expiring in 2022 and 2024, respectively), flubendiamide (insecticide molecule of Bayer CropScience sold under ‘Fame’ brand and just gone off-patent) and fluopyram (fungicide, also of Bayer and marketed as ‘Luna’, with patent expiry in 2024).

“The multinationals that have developed these active ingredients simply import them now. The government should speed up the process of granting registration for their manufacture by domestic companies once they have become generic chemicals,” Potential manufacturers are permitted to reverse-engineer proprietary crop protection products even during their period of patent protection. They can further carry out bio-efficacy and residue trials (in soil, water and plants under different agro-climatic conditions), apart from toxicology studies on their proposed generic version. All this data, including information of packaging/labeling and shelf-life, has to be submitted to the Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee in the Union Agriculture Ministry.

“The problem today is that even after the data is submitted, the grant of registration takes an inordinately long time. As a result, we cannot launch any product that has gone off-patent and make it immediately available to farmers at a more competitive rate. Since the registration process is so slow, it discourages domestic manufacturing and India ends up being a large-scale importer of technical material from China, the ultimate loser is the farmer.

China’s experimental spaceship works normally in orbit

China's new-generation spaceship launched earlier in the week is working normally in orbit after completing a series of planned operations

The experimental spaceship was launched without crew by China's new large carrier rocket Long March-5B from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre in Hainan. So far, the new spaceship has unfolded its solar panels and positioned them towards the sun, deployed its relay antenna and established a relay communication link, as well as conducted autonomous orbit control four times

It is scheduled to touch down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. China initiated the manned space programme in 1992. In recent years, it has emerged as a major space power with manned space missions and landing a rover in the dark side of the moon. It is currently building a space station of its own expected to be ready by 2022.

Phase-2 trial with three drugs offers hope

Introduction

A phase-2 trial involving participants with mild to moderate coronavirus (COVID-19) illness found no detectable virus within an average seven days of starting treatment with a three-drug regimen compared with 12 days in people in the control group.

Samples tested for the virus comprised nasopharyngeal swab, posterior oropharyngeal saliva, throat swab, and stool samples.

Clinical Improvement

Clinical improvement was also significantly better in those who received the three-drug regimen. Complete alleviation of symptoms was achieved in four days in the intervention group and eight days in the control group. The average hospital stay was also significantly shorter (nine days) in participants who received the three-drug therapy than in the control group (14.5 days). The three-drug regimen was found to be safe.

The three drugs used are:

Lopinavir-ritonavir is used for treating HIV, ribavirin for treating chronic hepatitis C virus, and injectable interferon beta-1b is used by multiple sclerosis patients.

The researchers had earlier demonstrated that a combination of lopinavir–ritonavir and ribavirin significantly reduced mortality and respiratory failure in patients during the 2003 SARS outbreak.

And interferon beta-1b has previously been shown to reduce viral load and improve lung problems in animal studies of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus infection.

NTPC to provide Hydrogen Fuel Cell based electric buses and cars in Leh and Delhi

National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) has invited Global Expression of Interest (EoI) to provide 10 Hydrogen Fuel Cell (FC) based electric buses and an equal number of Hydrogen Fuel Cell based electric cars in Leh and Delhi.

The EoI has been issued by NTPC's wholly owned subsidiary, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam LIMITED. The move to procure Hydrogen Fuel Cell based vehicles is first of its kind project in the country, wherein a complete solution from green energy to the fuel cell vehicle will be developed.

The initiative, which has been undertaken with the support of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, will also harness renewable energy for the generation of hydrogen and develop its storage and dispensation facilities as part of pilot projects at Leh and Delhi. The move to launch hydrogen-powered vehicles aims at decarbonizing the mobility segment.

Vehicle scrappage policy soon

The vehicle scrappage policy is likely to be finalised soon to boost the automobile sector. The Minister of Road Transport and Highways also said that his ministry has fixed a target to build highways worth Rs. 15 lakh crore in the next two years.

Important Points

• The much-awaited vehicle scrappage policy is awaiting final clearance from the Union Cabinet, which will focus on eliminating the fleet of old polluting commercial vehicles plying on the country’s roads.
• The proposed policy, once approved, will be applicable on all vehicles including two and three-wheelers.
• Once the policy is approved, India could emerge as a hub for automobile manufacturing as key raw materials available from scraping like steel, aluminium and plastic are bound to be recycled, bringing down automobile prices by “20-30%“.
• The government on July 26, 2019, proposed amendments to motor vehicle norms to allow the scrapping of vehicles older than 15 years in a bid to spur the adoption of electrical vehicles.
• In a draft notification, the government proposed the renewal of fitness certificates for vehicles older than 15 years every six months instead of the current time frame of one year.
• The notification also provided that the newly purchased motor vehicles will be exempted from payment of fees for a registration certificate and assignment of a new registration mark if the purchaser produces a scrapping certificate of the previously-owned vehicle of the same category issued by the authorised scrapping centre/agency.

In May 2016, the government had floated a draft voluntary vehicle fleet modernisation programme (V-VMP) that proposed to take 28 million decade-old vehicles off the road. Mr. Gadkari said for highways, he has set a target of building ?15 lakh crore worth of roads in the next two years and added that the road construction pace has reached 30 km a day now. He also suggested exploring cheaper credits, including foreign capital for enhancing liquidity in the automobile manufacturing sector.