Nagpur:

As part of his ambition to make India a green economy, Union minister Nitin Gadkari wants to slash GST on hybrid vehicles and has vowed to rid the country entirely of the over 36 crore petrol and diesel vehicles.

“One hundred per cent,” Mr Gadkari, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, said when asked whether it is possible for India to get rid of petrol and diesel cars altogether.

“It is difficult but not impossible. This is my vision,” Mr Gadkari said in an interview with the news with PTI.

He said India spends Rs 16 lakh crore on fuel imports. This money will be used for improving the lives of farmers, villages will be prosperous and the youth will get employment, the minister said.

Mr Gadkari did not give any timeline to meet this ambitious target which even proponents of green energy believe is mind-bogglingly difficult.

The proposal to reduce GST on hybrid vehicles to five per cent and to 12 per cent for flex engines has been sent to the Finance ministry which is considering the requisition, Mr Gadkari said.

The minister said he firmly believes the country can end fuel import by promoting the use of biofuels.

Environmental activists welcomed Mr Gadkari’s vision for increasing green mobility, but also struck a word of caution by flagging the use of fossil fuels in the production of electricity.

“In India, we are still heavily dependent on a fossil fuel-based energy system to power electric cars, and this needs to be changed. There is urgent need to ensure 100 per cent renewable energy alongside electric vehicles to tackle the climate crisis,” Avinash Chanchal, a campaigner for Greenpeace India, told PTI.

Mr Gadkari said he has been pitching for alternative fuels since 2004 and is confident things will change in the coming five to seven years.

“I cannot give you a date and year for this transformation to take place as it is very difficult. This is difficult but not impossible,” Mr Gadkari asserted.

He said he firmly believes that given the speed with which electric vehicles are being introduced, the coming era will be of alternative and biofuels and this dream will come true.

Mr Gadkari said auto companies such as Bajaj, TVS and Hero are also planning to manufacture motorcycles using flex engines and auto rickshaws using similar technology too were on the way.

“I roam around in a car that runs on hydrogen. You can see electric cars in every other household. People who used to say this was impossible, have changed their views now and started believing in what I have been saying for the last 20 years,” the minister said.

“Tatas and Ashok Leyland have introduced trucks that run on hydrogen. There are trucks that run on LNG/CNG. There are 350 factories across the country of bio-CNG,” he said.

“Definitely, a revolution is taking place. The fuel imports will end and this country will become self-reliant – Atmanirbhar Bharat. I strongly believe in this,” Mr Gadkari said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The number of electric vehicles in India has surged from just 2,400 a decade ago to over 27.4 lakh as of July 2023. File.
| Photo Credit: Ashoke Chakrabarty

The number of electric vehicles in India has surged from just 2,400 a decade ago to over 27.4 lakh as of July 2023. However, given the concurrent rise in the number of non-electric vehicles, the overall share of electric vehicles has still not crossed the 1% mark. Notably, there is also a wide inter-State disparity in the penetration of electric vehicles.

There has also been a dramatic shift in the class of electric vehicles over time. In the initial years, between FY2015 and FY2020, when the number of electric vehicles was growing at a relatively slow pace, the share of e-rickshaws in the mix was much higher than the share of electric bikes. However, in the last four fiscal years, as the absolute number of electric vehicles has increased at a quicker pace, the share of electric bikes has surged and surpassed the share of e-rickshaws.

Chart 1 | The chart shows the cumulative number of electric vehicles in India over time.

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As of July 14, 2023, India had 0.27 crore electric vehicles, 5 crore diesel vehicles, and 28 crore petrol vehicles. The share of electric vehicles was just 0.79%, with petrol vehicles forming over 80% and diesel motors contributing about 14.5%. The share of petrol/CNG hybrid (1.4%) was also higher than the share of electric vehicles, while with a 0.6% share, the petrol/LPG variant came close.

Chart 2 | The chart shows electric vehicles as a share of all vehicles registered in a State as of July 14, 2023.

Assam ranked first with a share of 2.2% electric vehicles, followed by Tripura (about 2%). Delhi, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Goa had a share of over 1%. Among the major States, Himachal Pradesh had the lowest share with 0.11%, followed by Punjab (0.26%), Andhra Pradesh (0.40%), West Bengal (0.44%), and Madhya Pradesh (0.47%).

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Chart 3 | The chart shows the share of various types of electric vehicles over time.

In FY16, the share of e-rickshaws in total electric vehicles was 92% with other types such as two-wheelers, three-wheelers (other than e-rickshaws), and four-wheelers forming the rest of the 8%. Notably, an overwhelming number of e-rickshaws were used to carry passengers, while a few had carts for carrying goods or garbage.

Till FY20, there was no dramatic change in the share with e-rickshaws dominating with a market share of 82%. But the share of two-wheelers had started to rise by then. After FY20, the share of two-wheelers saw a drastic rise and peaked at about 60% in FY23, while the share of e-rickshaws came down to 32%. The latest financial year saw a small drop in the share of two-wheelers with the share of electric four-wheelers expanding beyond 5% for the first time. The share of electric three-wheelers other than e-rickshaws has remained below 5%.

Chart 4 | The chart shows the State-wise number of electric vehicles which are not e-rickshaws on the vertical axis.

The share of non-e-rickshaws among all electric vehicles is depicted on the horizontal axis. The size of the bubbles corresponds to the total number of electric vehicles. All figures are as of July 14, 2023.

The shift in the mix of electric vehicles in India from e-rickshaws to two-wheelers was led by Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Kerala, and Rajasthan. These States have a relatively high number of electric vehicles. The majority of these are not e-rickshaws, but two-wheelers.

On the other hand, in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam, e-rickshaws continue to dominate the share of electric vehicles. Therefore, these States do not contribute much to the shift.

vignesh.r@thehindu.co.in

Source: Vahan Sewa Dashboard, Centre for Energy Finance’s Electric Mobility Dashboard

Also read: Explained | What is the technology powering hybrid electric vehicles?

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