100% switch to Electric Vehicles will not completely eliminate pollution, but it will surely greatly reduce it. A central large power source is far more efficient than thousands of small ones – for example, if all homes, instead of running on centrally supplied electricity, used individual petrol/diesel generators, pollution levels would be horrendous.
More public transport is a good thought but while it is not possible to change all mindsets in a few years and get people to give up personal transport, yet we can change to all EVs in just a few years
In India, the pressing problem is pollution caused by 2-wheelers
As per State pollution norms, 2-wheelers are allowed to emit CO% (3.5%) and HC (3000ppm) which is 10 to 15 times more than that allowed for cars (0.3 and 200). Even if fuel consumption of 2 wheelers is 3 to 4 times less than that that of cars, it still means that, for the same distance covered, a 2-wheelers pollutes at least 3 times more than a car
And with 2-wheeler sales being 7 to 8 times that of cars in India, it means 2-wheelers cause over 20 times more vehicular pollution than cars
Our focus needs to be on converting 2-wheelers to electric –
- increase subsidy from the current 20-25%,
- lower price of EVs by auditing manufacturers costs (why are prices so high? how much are raw material costs as % of selling price?),
- Lease batteries monthly to owners, reducing the up-front capital cost
- create infrastructure for charging in public parking spaces, dedicated for 2-wheelers which are parked stuck to each other, have less power needs, so 5 to 10 cables can be connected to one charging station
- make such charging free for next say 5 years
Disclosure: Palas makes EV charging Stations