BackNiti Aayog’s battery swapping policy not viable for India: Nitin Gadkari
Nitin Gadkari says he suggested Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant that the idea of battery swapping policy should be scrapped
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New Delhi: A day after expressing his objection to Niti Aayog as an implementing agency for India’s Electric Vehicle Mission 2030 in an interview, minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari on Monday criticized Niti Aayog’s battery swapping policy.
Speaking at industry lobby group FICCI’s Smart Mobility conference Gadkari said, “The swapping (battery) policy I feel is not appropriate for the country because it is very difficult thing…. that is not going to be possible in the country." The minister added he had discussions with Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on the subject and he has suggested that the idea should be scrapped.
Niti Aayog in its report released in May had suggested that for accelerated adoption of electric and shared vehicles India should adopt standardized, smart and swappable batteries with lease and/or pay-per-use business models for India’s Electric Mission 2030. Under the mission, the government plans to cut down 1 gigatonne of carbon emissions and also save $60 billion in diesel and petrol costs.
The way things are unfolding, it seems a tussle is brewing between Gadkari and Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and on ‘who is going to spearhead India’s ambitious Electric Vehicle Mission 2030?’ Government officials who didn’t wish to be named said that the final call will be taken by the cabinet on who will be the anchor agency for EV Mission 2030 implementation. Earlier this year, the government had asked its think tank Niti Aayog to come up with an electric vehicle policy.
As part of its EV Policy consultation process, the Niti Aayog is unveiling two reports this week. One ‘A Make in India Opportunity for globally competitive Battery Manufacturing’ detailing technology and policy roadmap to leverage ‘Make in India’ to meet domestic EV demand and another ‘Evaluating a Motor Vehicle Feebate Policy for India’. The policy talks about a fee on inefficient vehicle that is redistributed as a rebate on efficient vehicles in India. Under this policy, the think tank talks about taking into account the social cost of emissions (polluter pays principal) and create incentives for consumers and manufactures to adopt clean and efficient vehicle technologies.
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