Sustainable Mobility In India Must Move Beyond EVs: Vaibhav Dange

In India, sustainable mobility has had its focus shift from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to integrated low-carbon options such as electric vehicles (EVs), which is driven by government incentives to tackle air pollution. 

But sustainable mobility does not mean only converting fleets to electric. It is moving beyond this idea, says Vaibhav Dange, former Advisor to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.  

I would like the government to talk about continuing with the sustainability aspect, as it is a good roadmap for sustainable mobility. When I say sustainable mobility, unfortunately, most of our policymakers tend to focus solely on converting our fleet to electric vehicles

— Vaibhav Dange, former Advisor, NHAI

According to Dange, it is important to explore sustainable mobility from the perspective of efficiency in public transport.

"We should continue our focus on EV, but we should also look at a combination of alternative mobility solutions that are cleaner, greener, and have the potential to put necessary growth engines into our economy,” Dange added. 

Sustainable mobility plays a significant role in the economic development of a nation and supports the improvement of the lives of people, both in rural and urban areas.

Skill-Based Economic Scalability 

It also plays its part in skill-based economic scalability.

“The government had initially, in the first five years, initiated skilling at a very-large scale. Later, according to my observation, it is somehow losing a bit of steam on that part. The government can probably revive its focus on this front. I think the government should look at reinventing it,” Dange said. 

Nevertheless, since EVs have been transforming the mobility sector by offering cleaner, smarter, and more efficient alternatives to traditional fuel-based transport, India's transition to electric fleets has already been touted as a practical and future-ready option. But that does not mean other equally sustainable alternatives must be overlooked.