Indian government's premier policy-making body, Niti Aayog, has firmed up a hybrid vehicle policy that challenges the electric vehicle mission that's being pursued aggressively, pitching methanol as a better alternative for the country.
The Aayog has reasoned that electric vehicles are neither cost-effective nor sustainable. Methanol-based hybrid vehicles, it proposes, would run on electricity that would be generated on board from the chemical. This would not put additional pressure on electricity demand in the country.
The crux of the reasoning is that methanol can replace gasoline as it is easily available, does not cause pollution and has higher electrical mobility and efficiency, besides being highly cost-effective vis-a-vis electric vehicles, which would run on lithium-ion batteries. It would reduce pollution and India's dependence on fossil fuels.
Methanol, a clear, colourless liquid, is easier to store than hydrogen and burns cleaner than fossil fuels, yielding water and carbon dioxide. Methanol can be obtained from sustainable bio sources and it is now also possible to manufacture synthetic, low carbon methanol.
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