Theme:-
- In the 5th meeting of NITI Aayog Governing council which took place in June 2019, NITI Aayog had proposed that only electric vehicles will be sold in India from the year 2030.
The need for the transition to electric vehicles:-
- Vehicular pollution is one of the major causes of air pollution. By switching to Electric vehicles, we can solve this issue. As per the report by the government, with this move, carbon emissions will be reduced by 37% by the year 2030. This will also help in our fight against climate change. As India is committed to bringing down its share of global emission by 2030 as per the Paris climate agreement, replacing diesel and petrol vehicles with electric vehicles will help us in achieving this goal.
- As the number of people who are buying vehicles is rising, the air quality will worsen further. So, there is a need to address this challenge.
- As of 2019, India is importing crude oil for 82% of its oil requirement. By using electric vehicles, we can reduce the dependence on other countries for oil imports.
Steps taken by the Indian government:-
- To encourage consumers to buy electric vehicles, the Indian government removed the registration fee for EVs from June 2019. It is also assigning green number plates for electric vehicles for using eco-friendly option.
- Indian government plans to set up a number of charging stations in the near future.
- NITI Aayog has also suggested starting E-highway project, which contains an overhead electricity network to continuously supply electricity to the electric truck.
Challenges:-
- Motivating common people to buy an electric vehicle is a challenge. At present, the cost of electric vehicles is much higher than engine-powered vehicles. Making them affordable is a big task for the government and automobile industries.
- Building infrastructure for charging stations is also another challenge for the Indian government.
- Even though the imports of crude oil will be reduced, we will have to depend on Li-ion imports for batteries of EVs.
- The people who bought electric vehicles have issues with the speed and charging time, the efficiency of batteries and driving range. To promote the sales of EVs, these things need to be addressed.
- Training people in using EVs is also another challenge.
Conclusion:-
It’s a good thing to switch to EVs, as its an environment-friendly option, but the government should ensure that the transition will be smooth.
Photo by Mike Bird from Pexels
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