Gadkari’s warning to automakers gives an idea about the Government’s clean car push
Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari minced no words when he spoke to the Indian automotive industry a few days ago and threatened to ‘bulldoze’ them into oblivion if they did not subscribe to the Government’s clean energy push. In a sense, Gadkari is right. There is a global push towards alternative energy vehicles — the UK has said that it will ban the sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2040. Chinese-owned Swedish carmaker, Volvo, has said that all new cars that they will manufacture from 2019 will be hybrid and electric. Most other major carmakers in the world are in the midst of making all their platforms hybrid and electric capable. Most importantly, Governments across the world are already building an infrastructure to support these new motive technologies. In particular, they are building charging stations to support a growing fleet of electric cars. The only Indian city to have made any progress towards building a fleet and infrastructure towards an electric vehicle fleet is Gadkari’s hometown, Nagpur, where taxi aggregator Ola has started operations with a fleet of 200 electric cabs and has developed charging points at strategic locations across the city. There has been tremendous progress in the development of electric and hybrid technology over the years, the latter now having matured. Even though the Finance Ministry has imposed a ridiculous cess on hybrid cars under the Goods and Services Tax, the fact is that hybrids for the next decade at least are going to be the way forward for a lower income country like India because battery technology remains expensive. With advanced software, hybrids such as that on the Honda Accord sold in India can eke out 25-30 kilometres from a single litre of fuel in the city and at least 30 per cent more on a highway. If the same technology was to be put into a hatchback, the biggest selling segment in India, it could revolutionise fuel economy and the oft-asked question, kitni deti haiIJ, can be answered with numbers that would make a 100cc motorcycle proud.
Of course, that would only happen if the Government realises that this is the way to start and reduces taxes on hybrids, indeed it should promote them. As this paper has said before, most consumers do not buy products for altruistic reasons, they buy products because they make economic sense. A highly fuel-efficient car which costs not much more than a regular car would instantly become a hit. That said, while hybrids must be promoted, the Union Government and crucially cities across India should look at developing better electric-charging infrastructure. But most importantly, if vehicular pollution has to be made a target and the evidence that vehicular pollution causes a bulk of the pollution during the capital’s foggy winters is tenuous at best, the Government has to start going after older polluting vehicles, including taking older vehicles off the road. This is in the realm of local Governments but pollution checking stations are a joke and old vehicles operate on the roads with impunity. Additionally, instead of looking at future technologies, much more needs to be done to existing infrastructure. Gadkari clearly has the right idea, but instead of the industry maybe the bulldozer should be run inside the bureaucracy and the Government first.