India commits to electric vehicles, approves $4.1 billion investment

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India commits to electric vehicles, approves $4.1 billion investment

Greentech Lead India: The government of India will invest
$4.13 billion to encourage the production and use of electric and hybrid
vehicles in the country for the next 8 years. With this investment the
government is planning to introduce 6 million vehicles on the road by the year
2020.

The investment was approved by Indian Central ministers,
at the National Electric Mobility 2020 meeting. 

The investment will also be utilized to build a network
of charging stations and support research and development, among others.

The $4.1 billion investment was triggered by a recent research
by the government agency that predicted there will be demand for 5 to 7 million
electricity-operated vehicles in the nation in the next eight years, brought by
the need to eradicate the staggering environmental impact of the combustion
engine vehicles. The research also estimates over 50 percent of them would be
battery electric vehicle (BEV).


The findings of the study also showed that these electric vehicles will help
prevent consumption of 2.2 to 2.5 million tons of fossil fuels by 2020.

Electric and hybrid vehicle is almost non-existent in the
Indian automobile market.  Main inhibitors are the high cost of
technologies that support these vehicles and lack of support infrastructure
like charging stations and garages.

Currently Mahindra Reva is the only electric-focused car
in India. According to Pawan Goenka, chairman of Mahindra Reva, there is a gap
between the cost of the electric car and how much the consumer can pay.

Most of the green vehicles the country targets by 2020
will be two wheelers. According to official sources, around 130 to 140 billion
rupees of the total investment in the plan will be paid by the government, and
the rest will be provided by private companies.

The announcement was welcomed by the industry and various
environmentalists groups. Aditi Dass, director of technology programs at The
Climate Group, said announcement to promote electric vehicles is encouraging.

Vehicle manufacturers such as Mahindra & Mahindra,
Maruti and Tata have already expressed their interest to roll out
electricity-generated cars.

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