NDA house divided on electric mobility plan
Even as the Union Budget, presented last month, provided an impetus to electric vehicles (EVs), there seems to be differing voices within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-led government on India’s ambitious plan for a transition to electric mobility.
The latest case in point being transport minister Nitin Gadkari who is of the view that the government will not set a specific deadline for automakers to switch to EVs and nor will it ban production of petrol and diesel vehicles but instead let market forces decide on the preferred technology.
In sharp contrast, government think tank National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog on 21 June asked the automobile industry to submit a plan on banning internal combustion engines (ICE)-fitted two-wheelers under 150 cc by 2025, and three wheelers by 2023, along with transition to electric mobility.
