Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced ambitious plans as he unveiled the Goa Electric Mobility Promotion Policy 2021 at a function in Canacona attended by Union Minister of Heavy Industries, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and others as the government sought to indicate its seriousness in promoting electric vehicles in a bid to help reduce the country’s carbon emissions in tune with India’s global warming commitments made at COP-26.
Charging stations, subsidies for electric vehicles, as well as reduced costs were dangled before manufacturers and potential buyers with Kant going so far as to suggest that over the next four years there will be “no more combustions of two wheelers and three wheelers” because the prices of these vehicles will have fallen so much that by then even the upfront price of an electric vehicle will be lower than that of a fossil fuel driven one.
If one listens only to the government and the presentations it sounds like a very rosy picture. But look around you and the situation is very different. No doubt things could look very different in a few years time, but for now, hesitancy is writ large across the consumer’s face as he weighs up whether to bite the bullet and go electric.
There’s no doubt that electric vehicles have many advantages including fewer emissions in cities, quieter environments, cheaper operational and maintenance costs and other benefits. It is one of the reasons why the government is promising that the cost of an EV, though may be higher at the time of buying, it evens out over the course of the life of the vehicle.
That said, there are no easy solutions. The proof of the pudding is in the eating and unless someone takes the first step and others see that the benefit only then will the market really grow.
Besides that, the government needs to understand that promoting EV use in itself will not help save the world. Real solutions do not involve bringing more cars onto the road but instead encouraging the people to use public transportation. The more commuters use public transport the more efficient the use of resources is. Rather than looking at cheaper alternatives that can make a bigger impact when it comes to reducing emissions like an efficient transport system, the government is chasing a fancy solution, which is only half the problem. Replacing a petrol/diesel car with an electric one will not take away traffic jams, reduce travel time or change our urban infrastructure outlook. It will help a bunch of manufacturers find new buyers for a new set of cars.
The problems that cars themselves pose to society will not go away. Much like how the government told us that building a third Mandovi Bridge will solve our traffic problems and reduce engine idling in traffic, when instead it has solved nothing and if anything only encouraged more people to use their personal vehicles thereby only increasing emissions.
The same mistake is being repeated with electric vehicles, while global CO2 levels continue to go through the roof -- EVs or not.
