By Utkarsh Chauhan
On 22nd April every year the entire world celebrates the Earth Day & it is worth celebrating event because since the inception of human beings whatever we have attained in terms of food, air, land or anything that ensure better livelihood, all we have got from the mother earth. Moreover, the Earth Day celebration should not be confined by us to a single day only, rather it should bring a new consciousness in mankind towards earth & environment. Our vehicles are one of the detrimental factors towards environment. Can mobility be a solution instead of a problem towards earth’s protection?
When it comes to figuring out the core causes of pollution & carbon emission, vehicles & the entire transport industry tend to be responsible. It is quite obvious to blame vehicles & transportation sector because they are biggest consumer of petrol & diesel in the entire world. For almost 2 centuries, vehicles have been running on carbon or fuel-based engines which release lethal & contagious toxins. But the present generation has become aware of this problem & has invented various substitutes of such pollution causing engines like electric vehicles along with hydrogen & ethanol-based engines.
Almost a decade ago, when the world & especially India initiated looking for EVs as a substitute of carbon-based vehicles, it seemed quite herculean for a nation like India to bring such an innovative but a sudden revolution because it takes a lot of infrastructure in terms of charging stations & technology like electric batteries to promote & make EVs feasible in the country. But the handsome way in which India has so smoothly adjusted with this transition is amazing due to government support in infrastructure & new EVs based startups. So far there are approximately 5.6 million EVs in India, in 2024 the sales for EVs were 2 million & 1.6 million in 2023. It is expected to witness a 24% growth in the next year’s sales.
Bringing EVs revolution in India is not sufficient to tackle pollution because the problem is multi-facet. Agriculture waste like Parali (residual after crop harvesting) has also a hazardous role to play in carbon emission, that’s why the Indian government in collaboration with states & corporates, is striving to implement biofuel as a method for repurposing of Parali in the form an energy-generating biofuel & there are 400 projects in progress, says Mr. Nitin Gadkari. Moreover, along with EVs that run on electric batteries, the Indian government plans to introduce hydrogen-based cars also, even Nitin Gadkari already owns such a car known as Toyota Mirai powered by Green Hydrogen.
There are different fronts India’s been preparing itself for a green revolution but such a night to day shift demands sustainable infrastructure, friendly business policies & government cooperation. As per the several reports, companies like Tata Power, Ather Energy & Fortum Charge along with various startups have already begun with their plans to lay down charging stations across India. Moreover, there are schemes like PM E-DRIVE, FAME INDIA (to promote green vehicles) & Production Linked Initiative Scheme for EVs & hydrogen cars manufacturers. The Indian government has ensured cheap land & other resources available for manufacturers & service providers.
We humans don’t own this earth, rather we have inherited it from our ancestors & we have to carry forward it to our coming generation, so while celebrating the Earth Day this year, let’s take a pledge to make our mother earth cleaner & greener. Therefore, we should opt for green source of energy & mode of transportation to maintain this sustainability drive.
About the Author:
Utkarsh Chauhan is the co-founder and a business consultant at Business Era Consulting. He holds an MBA in International Business and contributes as an author on business and geopolitical affairs for the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and International Business Times.