Tata, Murugappa, VECV inch towards e-truck incentives

Localization work to start as govt let truckmakers import motors with rare earth magnets

- Manas Pimpalkhare

E-trucks were included in the scheme as a sunrise sector.

(BLOOMBERG)

India’s push to electrify its heaviest freight movers is gathering pace.

The Murugappa Group’s electric-truck arm, IPLTech Electric Pvt Ltd will shortly secure the localization and homologation approvals from testing agencies under the ₹10,900 crore PME-Drive scheme, as Tata Motors Ltd and Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles (VECV) are slated to soon start testing their e-trucks, marking the next step for disbursals under India’s marquee electric vehicle incentive scheme, two people aware of the development said.

Homologation is the mandatory testing and certification for sales.

PME-Drive, the government's flagship EV subsidy scheme, was set to lapse in March 2026, but a lack of disbursals in the e-bus and e-truck segments, as well as zero disbursals for electric and hybrid ambulances, led to a two-year extension. Mint reported earlier that truckmakers faced a crisis of scale and had trouble meeting localization standards under the scheme.