Mint Quick Edit | Give hybrids tax relief to help decarbonize traffic
India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said on Tuesday that the disparity in taxes India imposes on electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrids will “continue for a long time." The goal is to increase battery manufacturing and accelerate the electrification of transport. With India having set itself a target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, the country needs to decarbonize.
We must, however, take a pragmatic approach. With hybrid vehicles overtaxed, they remain too expensive for many buyers keen on switching to cleaner modes of conveyance.
At the same time, EV sales are not growing fast enough because charging infrastructure remains woefully inadequate, few people have space for their own charging bays at home and EV makers have not been able to dispel “range anxiety", or the fear of a battery running low prematurely. Summer heat has been seen to reduce the distance a single charge can cover.
These problems are being addressed, would-be EV buyers hear, but the progress so far has not been impressive. In the interim, we should use hybrid vehicles as a bridge technology.
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