Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Wednesday, asked vehicle manufacturers to adopt electric technologies fast to reduce dependence on imported oil and supplement efforts for a greener transport system.
“It is important that we make efforts for reducing the transport sector’s dependence on oil. One of the ways in which this can be achieved is by faster adoption of the full range of electric vehicle technologies, including hybrid vehicles,” he said after unveiling the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 here.
The mission involves a total investment of over Rs.23,000 crore which would be equally shared by the government and the auto industry. Over 80 per cent of the country’s requirement of petroleum products was met through imports.
The plan is expected to be implemented from April 2013 in a phased manner. The Department of Heavy Industry (DHI) would approach the Finance Ministry soon to gets its nod for funding the mission. As per the plan , 6-7 million electric vehicles along with resultant liquid fuel savings of 2.2-2.5 million tonnes can be achieved in 2020.
Dependence on fossil fuel would lead India to catastrophic economic slump in the future due to large forex outflow and global price escalation of oil due to the uncertain political scenes in the Middle East. Even countries like Saudi Arabia the largest oil producer in the world is investing largely on renewable energy to reduce their reliance on fossil fuel for energy production. It a welcome direction by our PM to invest in the research and development of alternate methods for the motive energy for the automobiles.
For the first the prime minister of our country has made a thought provoking appeal to solve many problems of our country. This must be followed with concrete financial incentives to drive this venture. There are very powerful forces to delay this development including rich oil companies & countries who would be affected economically. Those who have invested in automotive engines & oil refineries will not be keen on such a development.
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