Indian industry asks government to provide level playing field for Autogas

The Indian government should provide a level playing field for alternative fuels like Autogas to speed up the transition to a carbon free mobility, according to the Indian Auto LPG Coalition. Focusing on electrical vehicles while overlooking the merits of LPG has somewhat been perceived as preferential and overly inclined towards one technology and against another fuel technology option.

“In principle, we whole-heartedly welcome the government’s initiatives on promoting EVs. What we have been merely asking is that the government should also extend equal opportunity to another hugely feasible alternative fuel which could also contribute to an emission-free mobility system in our country,” the association’s Director General Suyash Gupta said.

Mass adoption of EVs is several years away in the country, while Autogas not only has zero global warming potential (GWP), but also involves far lesser transitional costs. “And here, we are not even pointing out the challenges in the EV roll-out related to faulty battery management systems, lack of proper testing and validation systems, shortage of lithium and of course, the dependence on China, a politically and commercially unreliable partner by all means,” he added.

The government urgently needs to make the type approval norms pragmatic and extend the validity period for Type approvals to perpetuity as is the case elsewhere in the world, and, of course, slash the GST on LPG and conversion kits.

Few months back, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued a draft notification for the conversion of BS-VI vehicles to LPG and CNG mandating several untenable requirements. This had been widely perceived as a policy bias, Gupta said. For more information, please visit this link.

3 August 2022