Inside India’s Plans To Leapfrog The Western Model Of Car Ownership

Friday, May 26, 2017

At rush hour, the gridlock on a highway in Delhi, India, looks a lot like Los Angeles. As more Indians are able to afford cars–and as the country’s population soon becomes the largest in the world–traffic and pollution throughout the country could be set to become much, much worse. But the government has decided to try to develop in a radically different direction than America, avoiding further sprawl and car-dependency. By the end of next decade, it wants most–if not all–vehicles in India to run on electricity, most cars to be shared, and cities to be designed for humans rather than cars.

If successful, the shift would save the country $60 billion in diesel and gas costs in 2030. Instead of 170 million cars, the number expected with the current trajectory, there would be 77 million. CO2 emissions from passenger transport would drop 37% compared to the business-as-usual scenario; energy use in passenger transport would drop 64%.

Source: FastCompany (link opens in a new window)

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