Abuzz with Activity
We are already in the month of June, half the year already having gone by. Every year, the time seems to fly by quicker and quicker, what with there being a lot of activity in the Indian automobile industry.
With the increase in fuel prices, the demand for electric scooters should go up. The problem is that all electric bikes are dependent on China for a lot of the components, and that is not good for the country.
The government is asking the citizens to conserve fuel, but every day, even a big city like Pune has no power supply, and people are forced to run diesel generators to power their homes and charge their electric vehicles.
Ethanol blending is creating a huge problem for old bikes, especially old scooters that have carburettors, because they have a vacuum petrol tap. The operating system for this petrol tap has a diaphragm, and this gets eaten up by the corrosive ethanol-blended fuel. Many such people cannot afford to buy a new scooter, so this remains their sole mode of transport. The government should offer the citizens the option of buying blended or non-blended fuel.
The fire department in Noida and Gurugram has banned electric chargers in basements and stilt parking under buildings. The department refuses to issue fire safety certificates to housing societies if they have an EV charger installed in the parking. This is a very confusing situation. On the one hand, the government wants to encourage electric vehicles; on the other, one of its departments will not let you charge your EV in your own parking. The government must talk to all stakeholders and only then frame policies that affect the citizens of the country.
