Bhushan Mhapralkar

There is nothing wrong in talking about going electric to curb pollution. There is nothing wrong in talking about using alternate fuels like LNG. CVs like buses will make an ideal ground for such a move. For a smooth transition from fossil fuel to electricity and other alternate fuels like LNG will require a super-efficient infrastructure. The environmental cost of an electric or alternate fuel vehicle will need to be accounted for as well. It is necessary that the environmental cost of electric vehicles in a populous country like India will be calculated and accounted for before reaching that stage and then grappling with it. For, it will throw new challenges that may be much more difficult to tackle. If much of the electricity consumed by an electric vehicle with zero tailpipe emissions is going to come from burning Lignite or other polluting mediums, the task of shifting pollution from an urban area to a rural area will not provide the desired results. In a country where unscheduled electricity outages for long hours is a common occurrence, will there be enough electricity to fuel as many electric vehicles? For electric vehicles to enjoy a good range, will there be an efficient and quality road network to offer? Will vehicular pollution be tackled by town-planning that accounts for growth over the next hundred years? Much of the infrastructure built by the British over 100 years ago still continues to serve us in many parts of the country.

The task of shifting pollution from an urban area to a rural area will not provide the desired results”.