Union road and transport minister Nitin Gadkari clears that government won’t shut the business of IC engine powered cars
Despite India thriving towards adopting pure electric mobility by 2030, Indian government won’t push the internal combustion engine powered cars out of business. Union road and transport minister Nitin Gadkari has assured the auto industry by clearing the government’s stand that it doesn’t intent to drive the petrol and diesel cars out of market. However, he also says that government wants the automakers to develop alternative fuel powered vehicles.
The Indian government is also asking the fuel companies to develop bio-fuels. The confusion was created earlier this month, when Nitin Gadkari urged the Indian auto industry to shift to EV manufacturing instead of conventional fuel powered cars. He hinted that government would bulldoze its way to implement the pure electric mobility by 2030.
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The minister’s comment drew criticism from the industry as it was being seen as a hindrance against the co-operative development towards greener mobility. However, now road and transport minister has stepped back from his previous stand and softened the tone by saying that the conventional fuel powered cars won’t run out of business in order to adopt the zero emission mobility.
While the Mission EV 2030 has been welcomed by several auto majors, the problem remains for the EV market to grow. Pricing of the electric vehicles in India is pretty high compared to the price of conventional fuel powered cars. Also, the lack of infrastructure is another problem for the electric vehicle industry in this country.
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While the Indian auto industry is concerned about the high price of the lithium-ion batteries that results in high price for EVs, government is saying that the pricing has been lowered by 40%. Mr. Gadkari also said that once the automakers start producing electric vehicles, pricing will come down further. Speaking about the charging stations for the EVs, government is about to take initiative build the infrastructure.