Electric mobility gains support, says report
NEWDELHI: The number of people willing to adopt electric mobility is rising with a view of bringing about a change in the transportation sector, according to a report Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari released on Thursday.
The report noted that 80% of those surveyed believed that the transport ecosystem has improved over the last five years. As many as 60% respondents reported using public modes of transportation, signalling that integrating modes of first and last mile connectivity, with mass transport, could be improved. The report noted that 75% of respondents believe that electric vehicles could replace conventional vehicles by 2030.
Also, 72% said that this integration could lead to an improved public transport ecosystem.
As many as 43,000 respondents from 20 cities across the country were surveyed for Ola Mobility institute’s report titled ‘The Ease of Moving Index, 2018’. The institute is the cab aggregator Ola’s research and social innovation arm.
“The ease of moving index will help us assess the state of mobility for cities. It has information that can help public stakeholders, city administrators and city planner to address pollution, congestion, and safety. It will also help in analysing what policy to make,” Gadkari said.
Additionally, results indicate that urban mobility is going digital with 55% of commuters, who use public transport, owning smart cards. Over 40% transact digitally while using public transport.
“We need to weigh in two things. One, the cost of the electric vehicles and the second the infrastructure for charging points... Work towards setting up charging stations has been slow,” said Kushal Singh, partner, Deloitte India.