According to a study released on Monday by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), electric trucks would be less expensive to operate than diesel trucks. India may also overtake the rest of the world as a producer of electric vehicles.
According to Berkeley Research, India leads the world in EV production.
According to a study by Berkeley National Laboratory and UCLA, India has the potential to overtake the rest of the world in the production of electric vehicles.
The study stated that switching from diesel-fuel trucks to electric-charged ones will help India achieve its goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2070.Â
88% of the oil used in India is imported, while freight vehicles account for roughly 60% of all petroleum use in the country’s transportation sector.
According to the study, over 70% of all road freight movement in India is carried by diesel vehicles, and this percentage has been gradually increasing for more than 20 years.
“In India, which imports 16% of all imports and 88% of its crude oil consumption, diesel trucks account for around 57% of the petroleum used for transportation.
Therefore, issues about air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, freight costs, trade balance, and energy security are greatly influenced by diesel-based trucking, it was stated.
The report states that battery electric trucks (BETs), assuming they reach maturity, may have lower ownership costs than diesel trucks across a range of weight classes. They also reduce fuel price volatility, a problem unique to diesel transportation.
“Simple calculations imply that, at the present average grid emissions intensity for India, BETs eliminate air pollution along highways and in crowded locations in addition to reducing the greenhouse gas intensity of freight by 9% to 35% across different classes of vehicles when compared to diesel.”
Nikit Abhyankar, a research scientist at Berkeley Lab and author of the article “Freight Trucks in India are Primed for Electrification,” stated that electric trucks “would be essential in strengthening India’s energy security and reducing the cost of commodities delivery.”
According to the paper, if electric vehicles were used instead of diesel trucks, greenhouse gas emissions would drop from 35% per kilometer to 9%. This is based on India’s current grid emissions.
According to research author and professor scientist at Berkeley Lab and UCLA Deepak Rajagopal, “India has begun on very ambitious electrification initiatives previous to this.”
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According to Rajagopal, the timing is right to implement targeted rules for trucking, according to a statement issued by Berkeley Lab.
Scientists from Berkeley Lab assessed how battery-electric trains may bring environmental justice, financial savings, and resilience to the US in a similar study that was released last year.
