EVs will be as affordable as petrol cars next year: Nitin Gadkari

Livemint | 04/11/2022 07:02 PM

Electric vehicles (EVs) will become as affordable as petrol vehicles next year, Nitin Gadkari has said. The Union Minister of Road, Transport and Highway made the statement at an event on November 1 while declaring government plans on rejigging buses across the country. The number of electric vehicles sold in India surged across all vehicle categories by 800%, according to Gadkari. In India, almost 17 lakh EVs were registered in 2022. There are 1.5 lakh transportation buses in India, of which 93% run on diesel and many are outdated and unfit. The government plans to convert all of these buses into electric ones in order to achieve the target of zero emissions, the Union Minister added. Gadkari said that a procedure had been initiated to produce hydrogen-powered cars in India in the near future. Three processes—Black Hydrogen, Brown Hydrogen, and Green Hydrogen—are currently used to create hydrogen. In order to create black hydrogen, you need coal; to create brown hydrogen, you need petrol, and you need water to create green hydrogen.

In order to enhance tourism in India, the government intends to expand the number of double-decker buses, as per Gadkari. The minister also said while speaking at the Zee Auto Awards 2022 that the government had plans to lower the price of tickets for AC double-decker buses in order to make it more affordable for the general public.

From Nagpur to Pune, commuters' travel times will be shortened to eight hours, according to a previous statement from the Union Minister. The Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Mahamarg will be connected to the newly projected Pune-Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) Access Control Green Expressway at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in order to alleviate the hassle that commuters now face when travelling from Nagpur to Pune.