India’s coal and mines minister has announced that every car sold in the pollution drowned country will be electricity powered by the year 2030. At the Indian Industry Annual Session 2017 in New Delhi, Piyush Goyal said:
“We are going to introduce electric vehicles in a very big way. We are going to make electric vehicles self-sufficient… The idea is that by 2030, not a single petrol or diesel car should be sold in the country”
The country imports $120 billion worth of oil annually. To cut down on the fuel demand and reduce the cost of running the vehicles, the authorities are taking the initiative to switch all cars to electricity. The country had taken a step to reduce the energy bills by promoting LED light bulbs back in 2015. Mir Goyal said that the government would provide the electric car industry with assistance for a few years, but he believes that later, the industry will be “driven by demand and not a subsidy.” He added, “The cost of electric vehicles will start to pay for itself for consumers. We would love to see the electric vehicle industry run on its own.
India is going through troublesome times in terms of air pollution which causes nearly 2.3 million deaths a year according to a report by Greenpeace. The report says that this mortality rate is only slightly less than the deaths caused by tobacco use. The country loses 3 percent of its annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to the toxic smog. The report urged for a robust monitoring system as “India’s pollution trends have been steadily increasing, with India overtaking China in the number of deaths due to outdoor air pollution in 2015.”
India’s most polluted city Delhi, which also its capital, has particulate matter concentration as much as 13 times the annual limit set by World Health Organization. According to the energy minister Mr. Goyal, the initiative of the electric vehicles will begin with “larger consumer centers, where pollution is at an all-time high” which makes Delhi the perfect starting place for the scheme.
