Kerala Exploring Lithium-ion Vehicles; Nitin Gadkari Supports The Project

By Irwin Mills

Union minister for road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari, has promised central assistance to Kerala in developing energy efficient vehicles by exploring the possibilities of Lithium-ion battery based research work going on in ISRO in Thiruvananthapuram.

Nitin Gadkari, has assured the Kerala government assistance for developing energy efficient vehicles. Currently, ISRO in Thiruvananthapuram is involved in Lithium-ion battery research. Gadkari has commented on the research and has suggested the Kerala government to start using alternative energy sources for travel and transport.

This move could play a vital role in Kerala, keeping in mind, the National Green Tribunal's (NGT) recent ban on the use of old & heavy diesel vehicles in six cities in Kerala.

According to the NGT order, all diesel vehicles above ten years should be banned, and 2000cc above vehicles will not be allowed to register in the State unless it's for government/public transport. However, the union government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court on the NGT order.

For now, what is positive, is Gadkari's suggestion that Kerala should start using biofuel and battery based vehicles and conversion of diesel vehicles to CNG.

The worry, however, is Kerala has been collecting 15 years of tax from vehicle owners since 2007. And if the NGT order of banning ten-year-old diesel vehicles is carried out, then the government will have to give back five years' tax to the vehicle owners, which is around 300 crores, and around 4,000 KSRTC buses will have to go off from roads.

DriveSpark Thinks! The Lithium-ion battery based research and Gadkari's involvement will help Kerala explore ways to ensure pollution control. But, the 300 crore and 4,000 KSRTC buses are a few thoughts to ponder on -- nothing worth having comes easy!

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Article Published On: Tuesday, June 14, 2016, 21:24 [IST]
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