In Conversation – Naveen Munjal, Managing Director, Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd. with Karin Deckenbach, Advisor GIZ India, Programme Environment & Climate Change
Building Back Better was an evening to celebrate the achievements of stalwarts of the industry who are dedicatedly working towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. During the celebrations, we captured a very interesting conversation between Naveen Munjal and Karin Deckenbach, on the transition of the Electric vehicles (EVs) Industry and how future ready India is to adopt to this change. Naveen mentioned that not all product categories will take off at the same time and we should have short term and long-term goals.
Business Case for the Pathways for the Net Zero Carbon Emission
The world believes that Electric vehicles are the cornerstone when one speaks about the sustainable future. They are the future of mobility, and the increased awareness and demand for these vehicles speaks of the same story. To build an integrated transport system with EVs, there are 3 stages for implementation that lead to the roadmap of EV adoption in India:
- Capturing global opportunities
- Improving and scaling actions
- Implementing government incentives within the transportation system.
The extended support in building the infrastructure for EV systems and the ecosystem is the responsibility or part of the ESG goals. The scientific community has clearly indicated the need for reaching Net Zero. Globally, the CO2 emission needs to reduce by mid-century in order to demit the global warming to 1.5 Degree Celsius, and to reduce the destructive impact of climate change on society and nature.
We have already seen that when transport was off-road during pandemic, air and rivers were much cleaner, and we were able to plug a gap the size of Greenland in ozone air. As the world returns to normalcy, pollution is again rising in the cities. The concept of Net Zero has ridden in prominence. While countries are trying to reach their submitted goals, till July 2020, a quarter of global CO2 submissions and more than half of the global economy were covered by Net Zero commitment according to Race to Zero campaign led by the high-level climate action committee.
Is the improved efficiency enough for sustained reduction in energy consumption?
More energy efficient vehicles require less fuel to cover same distances. They generate fewer emissions which makes them significantly less expensive to operate as well. Plug in hybrids, fully electric vehicles, are particularly highly efficient. The primary levers of decarbonization drive are improving an energy efficiency of facilities for a sustained reduction in energy consumption. Energy efficiency brings a host of benefits including reducing greenhouse gases and reducing demand for energy imports.
IVA estimates a reduction of 20 to 40 % by 2050 using advanced technologies and alternative fuels, hybrid electric, plug-in hybrids, elective vehicles and fuels and variants. Energy efficient transportation needs to be encouraged on 3 different levels:
- System Efficiency – pre-requisites include proper management of the demand of network and adequate public transport. Reducing per km fuel consumption of vehicles increases the efficiency. It also increases efficient driving techniques. These measures can be clustered into 3 categories – improvement of existing vehicles, new concepts, and development of alternative technologies in terms of the emission.
- Transport Efficiency – During post pandemic, a lot of business travel has reduced using technology far more effectively than before, which implies lesser strain on the ozone system. Air travel emission can be reduced by taking direct flights as it is the landing and takeoff of an aircraft, which is the most polluting. Strong public transport systems can also reduce emissions, carbon footprint, traffic congestion and the demand for oil will reduce.
- Vehicle efficiency – Bicycling and walking will help reduce the greenhouse gases. Paris is one such city that is bicycle and pedestrian friendly. Additional benefits include reduction of noise and air pollution, which is very important in India, one of the world’s most polluted countries.
DGCI has expressed concerns over the significant increase in the emissions in the last 5 years. For becoming green, we must improve our traffic management, opt for alternative fuels, use the best technology available, and focus on environment friendly infrastructure.
Hero Electric has been at the forefront of working on clean and sustainable energy and electric vehicles for about 14 years, a journey which continues. They are an environmentally conscious, socially responsible organisation, and follow ethical practices in business operations with an endeavour to make the country greener with zero pollution transmissions through a wide range of electric vehicles. They support the mission of No Emission.
Emission norms are being set by the governments of the globe. The full transition to EVs will be one of the most important actions to achieve Net-Zero. The need of the hour is to help towards zero emissions in a significant manner to leave India – a better and cleaner place than when we inherited it.
Check the video to hear what Naveen Munjal has to say.
