Electric Cars News

The long-anticipated Hyundai Kona Electric SUV is all to go on sale in India this week on July 9, 2019. Apart from being Hyundai's first electric vehicle, the Kona Electric is also the first electric SUV to be launched in India, making it all the more important.

The Audi e-tron is the company's first ever fully electric SUV and it was recently previewed in India. Audi scored 5-stars in Euro NCAP's latest round of crash tests and scored 91 per cent for adult occupancy protection.

In May Lotus confirmed a maximum of 130 examples will be built at its factory in Hethel, Norfolk, in tribute to its Type number.

The NDA 2.0 government made some major announcements for pushing electric mobility in India as part of the Union Budget 2019. While the Indian auto sector did not witness any dramatic changes in tax norms, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recommended reducing the GST rate on electric vehicles from the current 12 per cent to five per cent in a bid to push the sale of EVs in the country. In addition, there will be an income tax deduction of Rs. 1.5 lakh on the interest paid on the loans taken to purchase electric vehicles. The push for EV purchase is expected to boost sales for the alternate fuelled vehicles, which has been a major agenda for the government since the previous term.

The electric vehicle segment in the Indian auto sector has welcomed the announcements to give tax incentives on loans for EVs, as well as GST reduction on electric vehicles.

The government has offered exemption of income tax worth Rs. 1.5 lakh on loans taken for buying electric vehicles.

India's first highway corridors with charging stations for electric vehicles are expected to come up along the Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Agra highways by 2020, an official said. The combined stretch of the corridors on the Yamuna Expressway (between Delhi and Agra) and the National Highway 48 (between Delhi and Jaipur) will be 500 km, and 18 charging stations will be setup near toll plazas on the two routes, the official said. The e-corridors are proposed to be the first under the Ease of Doing Business Programme (EODB) of the Advance Services for Social and Administrative Reforms (ASSAR), a private entity which is supported by the central government, an official engaged in the project said.

Car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover said Friday that it will make electric cars at its central England plant, securing thousands of jobs in a major boost to post-Brexit Britain.