The clock is running in New Delhi. Millions of people in India's capital will be left gasping for air in November because of the seasonal pollution.
The schools are going to be closed. The vulnerable will be told to stay inside. Respiratory illnesses will cause hospitals to be crowded.
This yearly health emergency starts with traditional agricultural practices. Farmers in three states prepare for the sowing of new crops by burning stubble left from the previous season. The smoke spreads to Delhi, where it mixes with winter fog, dust, and vehicular and industrial emissions to form a toxicmias.
The festival of lights is celebrated annually. Despite being banned, fireworks cause pollution levels to go up even more. The air quality in Delhi became very poor after the festival of lights.
The constant of high vehicular emissions is the underlying factor.
More than half of Delhi's particulate pollution can be attributed to emissions from two-, three- and four-wheeled vehicles.
India's capital became a climate emergency due to air pollution. 7 million people are killed each year by a global trend.
Beijing had been considered the world's worst air. There is a high toll on humans. There were over 50,000 premature deaths in New Delhi in 2020. Air pollution kills more than two million people a year in India. Every three minutes a child dies in India due to air pollution, and lung cancer is increasing rapidly among non- smokers.
Authorities at municipal, state and federal levels are racing to avert Delhi's annual airborne catastrophe with a raft of measures, including a recently launched "Green War Room" to monitor pollution data and ensure. An ambitious shift to electric vehicles is at the center of the plans to make India's capital more liveable.
The boldest part of New Delhi's war on pollution is the Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy. 25% of new vehicles in New Delhi will be powered by electricity by the year 2024, making it the EV capital of the world.
There are a number of subsidies and incentives that seem to be working. Since the implementation of the policy two years ago, more than 72,000 electric vehicles have been sold, and electric vehicles now account for close to 10% of all vehicles being sold each month. It's too early to know if the policy has reduced pollution levels.
The shift to electric vehicles isn't limited to cars. 75% of all vehicles in Delhi are two- and three-wheelers. There will be low-cost charging for these smaller electric vehicles.
Adoption of electric vehicles is held back by unfamiliarity The deputy director of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives says that people want to be sure of the benefits of electric vehicles before they let their non-electric vehicles go.
Most Indian consumers don't want to own a car because of the high cost. In New Delhi, the average cost of an electric vehicle is $20,000, while an entry level fossil fuel car can be bought for less than $5,000. The per capita income is just over 5000 dollars.
Many people who are buying electric cars are also keeping their fossil-fuel cars, according to Ghorpade. He says there needs to be a change.
For that to happen, battery-powered cars need to be seen as equally reliable as gas powered ones. Most of the drivers are skeptical.
Fossil fuels, climate change, and India's COVID-19 crisis are some of the topics discussed in this article.
A resident of Delhi who did not want to give his full name asked, "What will happen if there aren't any charging stations?" It only takes five minutes to fill the car up with gas, which is much quicker than the time it takes to charge it.
Akhil Kumar, a journalist for the Indian television network, went ahead and purchased an electric vehicle, but he often finds himself looking for a charging point.
He says there is no way to tell if a charging station is open or not.
The Delhi government is working on a mobile application that will allow users to view real-time information on electric charging stations. The number of charging points in the city will be increased from 2000 to 18,000.
Experts agree that a cleaner transportation sector is critical for addressing the city's deadly pollution levels.
Given that India's capital currently relies on coal and gas-based power plants, environmentalists warn that more electric vehicles alone won't fix the air quality crisis.
There is an environmental activist taking on India's pollution problem.
According to Satish Sinha, associate director of the environmental group Toxics Link, the main source of power for electric charging stations is thermal or gas. He wants more to be done to generate power from renewable sources.
Shah is confident that the effort to shift New Delhi away from fossil fuels will succeed. Shah tells Time that an EV revolution is happening.
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