Japanese auto, motorcycle makers back India's drive to cut fossil fuel use
NEW DELHI (Kyodo) -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent appeal to Indians to reduce petrol and diesel consumption is reinforcing a broader shift in
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently called on Indians to cut petrol and diesel usage, promoting public transit, carpooling, and electric vehicles. This aligns with a broader shift in India's mobility strategy, with Japanese automakers adopting a technology-neutral stance. India, the third-largest crude oil importer globally, is promoting electric mobility, biofuels, natural gas, and flex-fuel technologies to diversify its energy sources.
Maruti Suzuki India, the country's largest carmaker, emphasizes the importance of multiple technologies to suit India's unique resources, infrastructure, and customer needs. These include battery electric vehicles, hybrids, efficient combustion engine vehicles, and flex-fuel, natural gas, and biogas-powered cars. The government's push for ethanol blending and flex-fuel vehicles has sparked concerns about fuel efficiency and vehicle compatibility.
Japanese automakers, including Yamaha Motor India and Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, support a diversified approach to mobility, considering electrification, hybrid systems, and alternate fuels based on customer demands and local infrastructure. Delhi recently announced an electric vehicle policy to boost EV adoption through incentives, charging infrastructure, and restrictions on some fossil fuel-powered vehicles' registrations.
India and Japan are cooperating in clean energy, economic security, critical minerals, batteries, hydrogen, bioenergy, and supply chain resilience.
Written by urgent.news from The Mainichi's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
