Perhaps, it may no longer be any electrifying to suggest that the time for electric vehicles is here and now. It’s hardwired in the present, it doesn’t rest in the annals of the future. Given the colossal environmental issues, the world is currently engulfed in, what, at a point in time, had seemed the future, is, well, actually the present.
Tesla has raised the game for others to follow. You have heard that a million times- haven’t you? And now with Oracle- Larry Ellison- putting in $1 billion in Elon Musk’s passion project, one that promises to alter the course of mankind’s future, one is assured of the future being changed, once and for all.
But what, at one point in time, seemed a distant clatter of noise now seems a growing cacophony in the sphere of electric vehicles, even as the loudest grunt belongs to Elon Musk, yet again.
The likes of Mahindra and Tata have been here in India for a while and their products in the space of urban mobility have already experienced the feel of the road. The Zippy from the house of Mahindra, among the largest and most revered conglomerate in India has already made its presence felt.
The compact 100 percent purely electric car is ready to be embraced by the world’s largest democracy. The idea, product, and an inclination is there even as the numbers need to stack up.
Similarly, the e20 NXT, another novel produce from the house of Mahindra Electric, as showcased in premium auto shows for much of the last year, is around. The scalable modular product is aimed at the mass market being priced- according to the updates- at INR 5.6 lakhs.
Tata have already readied the electric sedan- E Vision- which they aim to introduce at INR 25 lakhs. That said, the expected date of its launch is December 2020, which is, well a full year away.
Meanwhile, globally wherever one looks at and whichever car maker one wishes to check on, is going electric. Volvo had announced a while back that they plan to fully enter the electric vehicles industry. The time for conventional vehicles is but over.
And in lines with these exciting developments, it appears that India is at the receiving end of monetary stimuli to pursue what seems an exciting, robust energy efficiency program.
In case you didn’t know what the latest developments are, here is what you need to gorge on.
According to confirmed sources, the economic juggernaut from Asia is going to receive a massive sum of approximately $300 million from the revered World Bank to aid its energy efficiency programme.
In a news published on Money Control, it was confirmed that the World Bank has committed the aforementioned sum to the world’s largest democracy, the result of which would lead to a huge step in the positive direction of pushing for a future where there are only electric vehicles.
Now, if that doesn’t sound like some news, then one wonders what may ever?
The said developments in that regard also included the following and quoting directly from Money Control:
In a meeting held in December 2018, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) informed the Committee of Secretaries that the World Bank would route the aid to India through Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), a government-owned public sector unit, people aware of the development said.
All that said, here is how the funds promised by the World Bank are going to be implemented.
The aid to be received from the World Bank will actually be used as a supplement to generate the finances that the centre proposes to raise by way of levying a one-time fee from the conventional fuel-based vehicle buyers. And all of this will be done to lend some financial assistance to the e-mobility programme.