NITI Aayog To Fix Electrification Targets For App-Based Vehicles 

Indian government’s think-tank NITI Aayog might soon introduce yearly electrification targets for mobile application-based vehicle service providers like Ola, Uber, and others, reports suggest. The move is aimed at speeding up the electrification of new fleets of vehicles by these players.

 According to the report, which is yet to be published, the Aayog has decided to give a target of 50 percent electrification of three-wheelers and 30 percent electrification of two-wheelers by the end of 2030-31. At the same time, the think tank plans to target ensuring 20 percent electrification of the four-wheelers during the period. 

It also comes at a time when several app-based service providers are self-declaring their commitments towards net-zero emissions and increasing the electrification of their fleets. For example, Uber has already committed to going for zero-emission by the end of 2040. Ola has also hinted towards increased electrification plans for its cabs. However, institutionalized central-level targets were still missing from the EV sector till now. The new NITI Aayog report will likely fix those targets for these popular cab aggregators and other app-based service providers.

It is in addition to the targets fixed by the State Electric Vehicle Policies. For example, the Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy 2020 had targeted to ensure that all delivery service providers would convert 50 percent of their fleet in Delhi to electric by March 2023 and up to 100 percent by the end of March 2025. Some states also have started converting the four-wheelers used in government offices into electric vehicles. For example-Odisha government recently issued a tender seeking services of 300 EV cabs for government use. 

This development also came when EV growth in the country saw cascading growth. A recent report by the CEEW-CEF said that India witnessed 170 percent growth in 2022-23 in EV sales. Another report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) claimed that three-wheelers take the lion’s share in India’s EV share growth. It said that 50 percent of the EVs sold in India last year were electric. 

The NITI Aayog had also published roadmaps for the growth of electric vehicles in India, a roadmap for Green Hydrogen, biofuels, and others, paving the way for a clean pathway to give impetus to the new emerging sectors of cleaner technologies.