At the Indian Clean Transportation Summit (ICTS) 2024, International Council for Clean Transportation (ICCT) in India’s annual flagship event, experts urged for financial support and business models to boost EV adoption, especially in heavy-duty trucks, to cut emissions and promote sustainable transportation.
Launching the two-day event, Dr. Hanif Qureshi, Additional Secretary at the Union Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) said, “There is a need to accelerate the adoption of electric trucks in India. Local manufacturing is essential not only for local growth but also for cost reduction. Economics, rather than technology, is the key to scaling up e-truck deployment.”
Speaking at the opening plenary session, Sudhendu J Sinha, advisor, NITI Aayog, said the government is already working on supply chain management to accelerate the adoption of EVs in India in the trucking sector. “At least close to 13 to 16 times the GSTs have been rationalised just to ensure that the supply chain is ready,” he said.
Speaking during the second day of ICTS, Kailash Gahlot, Transport and Environment Minister, Government of Delhi said, “Extensive survey has been done by ATIs as well as IIT’s are now using AI to develop routes and ICCT has been instrumental in helping develop these routes. We will see the Mohalla Buses on ground very soon as the depots are ready, and some initial routes have already been planned.”
Amit Bhatt, India Managing Director, ICCT in India, said, “We launched ICTS two years ago with the aim to create a network of thinktanks, private sector members, civil society organisations and the government to work together on India’s transport electrification journey. ICCT in India works on decarbonising India’s transport sector, setting up lowemotions zones, and creating a roadmap for electric vehicles, improving emissions from transport vehicles in the country and ICTS has worked to stem our position in this space inIndia. In just two years, we’ve seen a substantial increase in engagement with ICTS – from starting as a single-day event to now being a two-day event, with almost 10 sessions, and more than 250 participants joining to seek an evidence-based response to India’s complex transport electrification journey, the event has been a success.”
During its two-day run, ICTS offered a platform for multiple stakeholders from India and abroad to share perspectives, learnings and experiences to collaborate on finding meaningful responses to critical environmental and sustainability challenges.
Sessions during the first day of ICTS included: Electric Trucks: From Margins to Mainstream; Accelerating Zero Emission Vehicle Adoption Through Fuel Consumption Standard; Decarbonizing Light Duty Vehicles in India; and ZEV Alliance: Technology, Policy and Infrastructure for E-tractors in India.
Sessions during the second day included: Low Emission Zones (LEZs) to Combat Air Pollution in Indian Cities; E-highways for e-freight in India; Norway’s EV Journey; Realworld Motor Vehicle Emissions in Delhi & Gurugram Using Remote Sensing (closed door); Ramping up Charging Infrastructure for Light Duty Vehicles in India; and Innovation for Impact: Neighborhood Bus Operations.