Two years ago, the government of India proposed a remarkable and ambitious goal: make every new vehicle coming onto its roads electric by 2030. The plan was largely a response to some of the world's highest levels of hazardous air pollution in its cities, higher in many cases than the legendary foul air in Chinese cities. . . .
But now, that goal may be modified, delayed, or dialed back significantly. A report in the Nikkei Asian Review on Thursday suggested that the government has concluded a more realistic goal would be plug-in vehicles representing 30 percent of new sales by 2030.
In two or three weeks, the country's power minister, R.K. Singh, is expected to release his ministry's policies and rules for electric utilities and providers of electric-car charging stations. . . .
Opinions vary as to whether the goal of selling only fully electric vehicles by 2030 was practical or achievable in India, where roughly 3 million new vehicles were sold last year. That is just one-tenth the size of China's new-vehicle market. . . .
India's proposal to end sales of vehicles powered by fossil fuels comes with unique challenges. One is a per-capita annual income of just $1,670; another is the fact that today, 50 million homes in India have no electric service at all. . . .
