In order to focus on clean energy, the Energy Transition Advisory Committee, an oil ministry panel, on Monday suggested that India should ban the use of diesel-powered four-wheeler vehicles by 2027 and shift to electric and gas-fuelled vehicles in cities with more than a million people and polluted towns.
The panel headed by Tarun Kapoor further added that no diesel-operated buses should be added from 2024 onwards. “By 2030, no city buses which are not electric…diesel buses for city transport should not be added from 2024 onwards,” Reuters quoted the panel as saying in a report posted on the oil ministry’s website.
To give the much-needed impetus to the use of electric vehicles in the country, the report also suggested that the government should consider “targeted extension” of incentives given under Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles scheme (FAME) to beyond March 31.
The panel also recommended that new registrations of only electric-powered city delivery vehicles must be allowed from 2024 and said that there should be higher use of railways and gas-powered trucks for the movement of cargo. The railway network is said to become fully electric in the next two to three years.
It also added that long-distance buses should be powered by electricity for a longer period of time and gas can be utilised in the form of transition fuel for the next 10-15 years.
India, one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, wants to produce 40 per cent of its electricity from renewables to achieve its 2070 net zero goal.
Diesel accounts for about two-fifths of refined fuel consumption in India with 80 per cent of that being used in the transport sector.
The panel also suggested that India should think about creating underground gas storage, which fulfills two months’ demand as it is said to increase at a compound average growth rate of 9.78% between 2020 and 2050. It also recommended the use of depleted oil and gas fields, salt caverns and aquifers for gas storage with the participation of foreign gas-producing companies.