View: Setting the agenda for a zero emission freight transition in India

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Clean Energy Ministerial and the G20 Energy Transitions Working Group meetings kicked off this week hosted by India, we saw unprecedented focus on clean transportation transitions, bringing together national and sub-national governments as well as industry and research. A stand-out theme has been a clear intent to address hard to abate segments, specifically medium and heavy duty vehicles (MHDV) and freight operations.

Two new initiatives were launched – the E-FAST programme by NITI Aayog saw commitments of up to 7750 Zero Emission Trucks (ZETs) by 2030 to be deployed by various end-users. These market signals spurred the supply ecosystem to come together and form a High Level Ambition Group which will deliver a clear pathway to increase model availability for ZETs in India.Why are these two initiatives important? In FY23, India saw a 34% growth in commercial vehicle sales, reaching 0.96 million units.

The MHDV segment made up about 38% of sales, posting a 49% growth over FY22, riding on a robust economic growth pathway. This has also contributed to an increase in road transport emissions – MHDVs which are 4% of the annual automotive sales contribute to about 40% of road transport emissions.

If India is to meet its 2070 net zero goal, transforming this segment becomes imperative. The transition to zero emission freight will require a coordinated approach across four key pillars: Policy, Technology, Infrastructure and Finance.

First and foremost, there is a need for an overarching policy framework for ZETs that combines incentives and regulations to enable the transition. The policy framework rests on four pillars (i) create tonnage based MHDV sub-classifications; (ii) techno-economic analyses of zero emission