Tuesday, January 02, 2018
By Kamal Swami
Niti Aayog Recommends Methanol Hybrid Vehicles Despite of EVs
Where at one side NDA government in its vision has announced to let the all vehicle owners driving and riding electric vehicles across the country by 2030, the think tank Niti Aayog has recommended the use of other fuel options like the used of hybrid vehicles running on chemical methanol. It is speculated that going through the high cost and unavailability of lithium-ion batteries installed in electric vehicles Niti Aayog would have considered the use of methanol based vehicles. According to inside report the group has even started working on developing a policy for the use of such vehicles. If the report from internal sources is true then it would be massive shock to an ambitious project determined by the government of India.
Commenting on this an official from Niti Aayog said, "Moving to electric vehicles would require setting up of large infrastructure, mainly charging stations across the country, and it would put additional burden on already growing demand for electricity," According to the industry experts generating additional electricity and absence of expertise required for developing lithium-ion batteries in the Indian car market would have compelled the Aayog to rethink on the other sources of fuel. On the other side all the major car makers have also raised their voice against the government’s vision of becoming electrified by 2030, as it would disturb the whole infrastructure of the auto industry which is believed to witness boom in the coming years.
As far as use of methanol is concerned it do not requires any extra electricity and is manufactured automatically as the vehicle moves ahead. It seems going through this benefit the mavens must be looking towards the use of this option.
