According to India’s energy minister, every car sold in the country by the year 2030 will be an electric vehicle, echoing similar statements from 2016.
During a speech at the Confederation of Indian Industry Annual Session 2017 in New Delhi, coal and mines minister Piyush Goyal revealed the nation’s ambitious plans and said that he expects consumer demand and not government subsidies to drive the industry.
“We are going to introduce electric vehicles in a very big way. We are going to make electric vehicles self-sufficient… The idea is that by 2030, not a single petrol or diesel car should be sold in the country,” Goyal said.
The minister admitted that the government would need to provide two to three years of assistance for the electric car industry but believes it can grow strongly in the years after, The Independent reports.
“The cost of electric vehicles will start to pay for itself for consumers. We would love to see the electric vehicle industry run on its own,” he said.
According to an investigation by Greenpeace, up to 2.3 million people die prematurely in India because of air pollution. The organization also claims that air pollution causes almost as many deaths as tobacco use.
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