Switching to Electric Can Cut Oil Bill: NITI Aayog

NEW DELHI: India can cut its annual oil import bill by some Rs 1.2 lakh crore in the next five to seven years by switching its two-wheelers from internal combustion engine to electric, according to the NITI Aayog.

“India has over 170 million two-wheelers. If we assume that each of these vehicles uses a little more than half a litre of petrol per day or about 200 litres per year, the total amount of petrol used by such vehicles is about 34 billion litres,” said the NITI Aayog’s ‘Zero Emission Vehicles: Towards a Policy Framework’ report released on Friday. “At Rs 70 per litre, this would cost about Rs 2.4 lakh crore. Even if we assume that 50 per cent of this is the cost of imported crude (as tax and other maybe 50 per cent), one may save Rs 1.2 lakh crore worth of imported oil,” it said. (IANS)