India is considered as one of Asia's biggest powerhouses with 7.3 percent economic growth over the last few quarters of 2015, according to Bloomberg Business. In fact, its economy rises so fast it is beating China's expansion, which is at 6.9 percent.
But the country of more than 1.2 billion people wants to do more by going less on fuel and oil consumption. For example, the government is planning to shift to 100 percent electric vehicles by 2030.
Speaking in a youth conference, Piyush Goyal, the country's power minister with independent charge for Coal, Power, and New and Renewable Energy, shared that a working group led by Nitin Gadkari, Road Transport and Highways minister, has already been chosen to determine whether such goal is possible. The group is expected to have its initial meeting sometime in the first week of April.
The program is ambitious, to say the least. Goyal wants it to be self-financing, which means the government will not be spending a single rupee on the purchase of these electronic vehicles. But to encourage conversion, the government can provide incentives.
He also does not want the people to spend money either by proposing a unique payment scheme where potential electric car owners can get one with no down payment and pay it later with their future fuel savings.
"Innovation is possible, it just needs an open mind," said Goyal.
This highly interesting program can also complement other future projects of India's energy department like using blended petrol. "We are looking at increasing consumption which we can blend with petrol. We are now moving to 5 per cent ethanol blending with petrol and at the next level this will have a transformational impact on farmers' income," he added.
As for electric bills, he stressed that tariff rates will probably stay the same and that all the program needs is a strategy to use electricity more effectively.
India, from where Mahindra Reva electric cars come from, may not be the only country interested in using e-vehicles. A new Bloomberg report estimates that at least one-third of the cars sold by 2040 will run on electricity.
Kārlis Dambrāns | Flickr
