Editorial: EV’s shadow on public transport

Over the last 15 years, the Indian government has come up with a slew of policies, mission plans, schemes, incentives, and subsidies to promote electric vehicles. The rationale given was primarily environmental – that is, to improve air quality and reduce dependency on crude oil. Even in Union Budget 2025-26, the government announced enabling initiatives for EV industry such as tax incentives and removal of custom duties to boost indigenous production but also make EVs cheaper.

Recent studies show how electric vehicles bring in their own set of problems. One, they are not as “green” as was initially thought if one were to look at the big picture. Though direct emission from an EV is less than vehicles with internal combustion engine (ICE), the electricity to run them often comes from power sources involving fossil fuels. Secondly, EV batteries need raw materials which involve extensive mining and the concomitant environmental issues. Lastly, the industry is yet to find a viable and environment-friendly solution to recycling and disposal of batteries.

As the Economic Survey 2025 puts it succinctly: “Mitigating road transport emissions, which comprise nearly 75 per cent of the emissions from the transportation sector, is critical to India achieving its Net Zero goals by 2070.”

In the same breath, the report underscored the associated issues, including having to import minerals prone to supply disruptions. Incidentally, over 60% of the processing of these minerals is done by China. While endorsing the policies relating to EVs, the survey suggests expanding the public transport network as an alternative to reduce dependence on foreign supply chains.

Urban transportation experts and researchers advocate expanding public transportation as against popularising EVs as a private e-mobility solution from not only an urban governance and management perspective but also from a social justice standpoint.

Electric vehicles for personal passenger transportation are similar to their ICE counterparts when it comes to taking up road space disproportionate to the number of passengers. Compared to buses or bicycles, cars occupy more space per passenger leading to congestion, traffic jams, and parking problems. Same with poor safety and longer hours being on the road.

Moreover, given their economics, EVs tend to accentuate and perpetuate disparities with regard to transport. They are relatively costlier than other vehicles. Even the incentives and subsidies given by the government go to high-income households who can afford an EV, be it two-wheeler or four-wheeler.

Persons belonging to lower-income households do buy electric vehicles like auto rickshaws and vehicles for commercial purposes such as carrying passengers or goods. Their interest burden is higher and the loan tenure would be longer. The underprivileged are thus excluded from green initiatives.

To get the best of both worlds, experts suggest including electric buses in public transport fleet. A small beginning has been made with the PM-eBus Sewa Scheme which has been launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. It envisages deployment of 10,000 e-buses in public-private partnership mode.

Similarly, DT Next had reported last October that Tamil Nadu government had deployed 25 new BS-VI low-floor buses for Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) under the ‘Climate Friendly Modernisation of Bus Services’ project.

The government has plans to procure 500 e-buses for the different state transport corporations. Based on the experiences of Tamil Nadu and other states with regard to financing and operating e-buses, the model can be fine-tuned and tweaked further for expansion in the state and replication in other regions.