How can we create an ecosystem, where electric vehicles are the most frequent means of transportation in India? A sustainable transportation system contributing to climate change mitigation as well as improved air quality and increased mobility for all Indians?
At the annual flagship event Urban Mobility India these questions, among many others were asked and answers were offered by experts, stakeholders and policymakers.
UNEP DTU Partnership has been participating in the Urban Mobility India conference for the last six years, and was acting as a knowledge partner for conference in 2015.
The conference is a well know forum to deliberate upon the challenges of urban transport, and is a flagship conference of the Indian Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. It has been recognised as the platform for churning of thoughts and ideas as well as carving the way forward for urban transport in India.
Creating an ecosystem for electric vehicle charging
This year UNEP DTU Partnership was engaged on the theme of electric mobility and organised a roundtable discussion on “How to Improve Ecosystem for Electric Vehicle Charging in Cities for Green Mobility”, chaired by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
The roundtable discussion and opening presentation by UNEP DTU Partnership senior researcher Subash Dhar focused on key barriers for scale-up adoption and deployment of electric vehicles and business models for electric vehicle charging.
Much of this was based on studies by UNEP DTU Partnership along with Indian partners exploring barriers for electric vehicles in Hyderabad and Pune.
The discussion then touched on recent initiatives and pilot projects aimed at promoting electric vehicles, creating public charging and regulatory frameworks needed to facilitate dissemination.
Touching on the infrastructure demands if a widespread use of electric vehicles is achieved, the roundtable participants, including representatives from major industries, policymakers and UN Environment, focused on the need for charging stations and battery cost and lifetime and reliability.
Besides this roundtable discussion, with high-level participants from ministries, major stakeholders and UN Environment, UNEP DTU Partnership was also part of a plenum discussion as a panellist to discuss challenges for electric mobility in India.
Building capacity at state and city level
The annual Urban Mobility India conference is a flagship event held by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
The conference has a very strong emphasis on building capabilities at the state and city level to address problems associated with urban transport and the task of developing sustainable urban transport systems.
It provides an opportunity for key decision makers and delegates to interact with other professionals, experts, academia, industry, civil society, technology, services providers and other stakeholders in urban transport so that the delegates can carry home ideas to develop their urban transport along a sustainable path.
