India could become first country to have 100 per cent electric vehicles by 2030: Piyush Goyal

A working group headed by minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari is evaluating the possibility of India making the transition to 100 per cent electric vehicles by 2030.

“This programme is going to be on a self-financing model and will look at monetising savings that consumers have on petroleum products,” said Piyush Goyal, minister of state (independent charge) for power, coal and new and renewable energy. Goyal was addressing the Conference on Young Indians on ‘Making India a global economic superpower.’

India could become the first country of its size to be running 100 per cent of electric vehicles, he said. The government is working on a scheme that would enable consumers to buy electric cars on zero down payment and people can pay for it out of savings on petroleum products.

“Innovation is possible, it just needs an open mind,” said Goyal. “You need to think of scale and be honest. We don't need one rupee support from the government. We don't need one rupee investment from the people of India,” he added.

The working group will be meeting in the first week of April to see if India can become a country with 100 per cent electric vehicles by 2030. ‘We are thinking of scale. We are thinking of leading the world rather than following the world. India will be first largest country in the world to think of that scale.”

The minister said the government was also working on ways to reduce our dependence of oil and gas. “Simultaneously we are working on programmes to reduce our consumption. We are looking at increasing consumption which we can blend with petrol. We are now moving to 5 per cent ethanol blending with petrol and at the next level this will have a transformational impact on farmers’ income.”

Source : BS Motoring