India plans decarbonization of the Transport Sector

New Delhi, India (Urban Transport News): To promote eco-friendly means of transportation and decarbonize the transport sector, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) of Govt. of India has notified  mass emission standards to introduce alternate fuels viz. blends of ethanol with gasoline ( E-10, E-12, E-15, E-20), flex-fuel (E 85) or (E 100) and Ethanol blend for diesel vehicles (ED 95), Biodiesel, Bio-CNG, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Methanol M15 or M100 and Methanol MD 95,  dual fuel, M85 and DiMethyl Ether (DME or D100), Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle, Hydrogen CNG.  

To adopt electric mobility in the country, the Govrmnet has taken many steps. Government has notified for retro-fitment of hybrid electric system or electric kit to vehicles and their compliance standards shall be as per AIS 123 for promotion of electric vehicles. The Government has also granted exemption to the Battery Operated Transport Vehicles and Transport Vehicles running on Ethanol and Methanol fuels from the requirements of permit.

The Government has notified the registration mark for Battery Operated Vehicles to be in Yellow colour on Green background for the transport vehicles and, for all other cases, in White colour on Green background.

In August 2021, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has exempted Battery Operated Vehicles from the payment of fees for the purpose of  issue or renewal of registration certificate and assignment of new registration mark. An advisory has been issued to all states and Union Territories (UTs) regarding incentivisation of electric vehicles and induction of electric vehicles in shared mobility and public transport operations. 

To ease the use of Electric Vehicles, the Government has issued an advisory to all States and UTs regarding sale and registration of Electric Vehicles without batteries.

According to the third Biennial Update Report submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the total greenhouse gas (GHGs) emission from the transport sector in 2016 was 274.43 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, which is 9.67% of the total GHG emissions (without LULUCF i.e. Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry) of India.