A study by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has revealed that electric trucks would be more affordable to operate than diesel. The shift, the research shows can also help India reduce its dependency on imported oil. It will also aid in improving the air quality across the country and meet the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2070, the study said.

It adds that India could become a world leader in producing electric vehicles.

“Electric trucks would be instrumental in enhancing India’s energy security and reducing the goods transport cost,” said Nikit Abhyankar, Berkeley Lab research scientist and author of the report “Freight Trucks in India are Primed for Electrification.”

Based on India’s current grid emissions, electric trucks would reduce greenhouse gas emissions to nine per cent from 35 per cent per kilometer compared with diesel trucks, the report said.

At present, India imports 88 per cent of the oil it uses. Freight trucks uses nearly 60 per cent of the total petroleum consumed by the country’s transport sector.

A study by Berkeley Lab shows that India has the potential to become the world leader in electric vehicles production. Conducted in collaboration with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the research underlines that making the transition from diesel-fuelled trucks to electric-charged will enable the country to meet the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2070.

“India has embarked on very ambitious electrification policies prior to this,” said Deepak Rajagopal, an author of the report and a faculty scientist at Berkeley Lab and UCLA.

“We find that the time is now ripe to put targeted policies on trucking,” Rajagopal said in a statement released by Berkeley Lab.