In a bid against the hazardous air pollution plaguing the country, the energy minister of India has just announced earlier this week that they will be making sure that every car in the nation will be electrically-powered by 2030.
The Indian government will be assisting the renewable automotive industry for the next two to three years, until the market stabilizes. Officials believe that electric cars will then become the more affordable option for consumers, as prices are driven down “by demand and not by subsidy”.
RELATED: All Cars Sold in Norway to be Electric by 2025
According to Sherry Boschert, author of Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that Will Recharge America, using hybrids and electric cars that draw power from a main grid would still dramatically reduce the amount of nitrogen oxide released into the air by 32% to 99%. Switching to low emission vehicles could also reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 17% to 71%, depending on the area.
The energy plan comes as a welcome follow-up to a similar initiative launched by India’s capital territory of Delhi, in which the city announced plans to ban all diesel-powered vehicles from the roads by 2025.
The campaign couldn’t come at a better time, either; according to a recent Greenpeace report, India’s air toxicity levels surpassed China in 2015, making it one of the most toxic nations in the world.
“We are going to introduce electric vehicles in a very big way. We are going to make electric vehicles self- sufficient like UJALA. The idea is that by 2030, not a single petrol or diesel car should be sold in the country,” said Power minister Piyush Goyal during the CII Annual Session 2017.
Power Your Friends With Positivity: Click To Share – OR, [icopyright_one_button-toolbar] (Photo by Griff69, CC)