The Indian Government is planning to introduce a new fuel efficiency rating system for cars and bikes which will convey to customers how fuel saving a particular vehicle is. The Government claims that by introducing this system, the customers will be encouraged to purchase more efficient vehicles which will in turn help in lowering the overall fuel consumption of the country. This proposal is being processed by the Government and may be passed in the near future.
An energy consumption star-rating has already introduced by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency for electrical appliances like air-conditioners, refrigerators, fans, etc which can be used as a basis for vehicles. India imports a huge amount of oil due the very high consumption, and if the fuel requirement can be reduced, the resultant lowering of imports will reduce a lot of strain on the economy. It is expected that by 2030, 96 percent of growth of energy consumption will be from developing countries and India and China alone will account for 50 percent.
The Oil Ministry is also proposing to levy additional taxes for diesel vehicles as the sales of big fuel guzzling diesel cars and SUV’s is on the rise due to subsidized diesel prices. So with additional taxes and lower sales of high diesel consuming cars, the overall fuel requirement of India too will reduce. But the automobile lobby is against this move. The oil ministry also said by efficient planning and proper laws, the import dependency for oil, which is 80 percent at the moment, can be reduced to 50 percent by 2020 and slowly by 2030, we can become completely self sufficient for oil.
Source – Economic Times
