Electric buses for India's smoggy cities
With some 5000 electric buses and enormous investments, India's capital region of Dehli is combating air pollution. An important step toward the energy transition throughout the country – and women are at the forefront.
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00:00 With the click of a button, the wheels of change have been set in motion.
00:07 24-year-old Vidya is breaking gender stereotypes while also taking a step forward for the environment.
00:14 She's among the first batch of women to be driving electric buses on long-haul journeys out of the city of New Delhi.
00:26 The buses are part of an initiative by private company Nuego, which operates one of the largest fleets of e-buses in the country.
00:33 When I'm on the highway, all I think about is getting my passengers to their destination safely.
00:43 India's transport sector accounts for nearly 10% of its total national greenhouse gas emissions.
00:53 In order to make mobility green, ambitious targets have been announced.
00:58 I'm curious to find out how India can decarbonise its economy while creating job opportunities for the most vulnerable and marginalised communities.
01:08 And how women like Vidya can be part of all that the new green economy has to offer.
01:19 The problem starts at home. They ask whether I'm capable of doing this job because it's men's work.
01:25 Especially since I look frail, people doubt whether I'm up for driving such a big bus.
01:30 They say this is men's work, not women's. I think work is work. You just need curiosity and courage.
01:36 Women like Vidya and her colleagues need support systems in place to ensure that the transition goes smoothly for them.
01:48 We got some women coach captains on board. We trained them over and above their training.
01:53 And we did rigorous training. It took a lot of effort. Then we said that she's ready.
01:58 Now let's do the first intercity in the entire world, which is Delhi to Agra.
02:03 And we got this whole concept of women passengers, women coach captains, women cabin hosts coming in.
02:09 Mahua Acharya focused on large-scale reforms in her tenure at the Indian Ministry of Power.
02:17 Simply by changing the economic model, she was able to create and lead the world's largest electric bus program with 5,450 vehicles.
02:26 First and foremost, we made it. Mobility was being provided now as a service.
02:31 So the incentive in the right place means private developers are the people who look after the buses, are incentivized for efficiency.
02:37 This model is what allowed us to achieve scale.
02:42 So suddenly from 200 buses and where cities were ordering 50, 60 buses, maybe 300 buses, 300 was the biggest number, we go from that to 5,500.
02:52 At the same time, Mahua also took steps to ensure a just transition.
02:58 We asked that the buses be carbon neutral. We asked that the OEMs, that the equipment manufacturers go out and basically try and make sure that you count the greenhouse gas emissions.
03:11 And if you were to offset with projects in India, we made special reservation or category emphatic reservations for women.
03:20 By 2030, the government intends to make all public transport electric.
03:26 Delhi's Transport Minister, Kailash Galat, invited me for a glimpse of what a green ride looks like.
03:33 80% of the entire fleet, which will be around 10,500, 80%, so that will be around 8,000, will be electric buses.
03:43 And this will be probably one of the highest in the world.
03:47 I'm curious to know what kind of infrastructure had to be created to ensure the city was ready for green mobility.
03:55 Delhi is the only city where we are electrifying all our depots. Just for electrification of depots, we are spending more than 1,500 crores.
04:06 And when we talk about the public charging stations, we have around 4,500 charging points already in place.
04:15 And yet, the sale of electric vehicles is still far behind. The share of EVs remains only 1% of the total market.
04:24 India has made it clear that this transition could be faster if it were provided with the right financial support from the international community.
04:32 The NTPC power station at Dadri, just on the outskirts of Delhi, is powered by coal that arrives directly from the mines located in East India.
04:49 The energy security of the country, and for most of India's economy, still depends largely on coal.
04:55 I met Aarti Khosla, who reminded me that India's energy transition must create job opportunities for people who are directly or indirectly dependent on coal.
05:10 It's quite exciting to talk about just transition as a global concept. In the end, it will come down a lot to how much upskilling and reskilling can we do for people,
05:20 what kind of jobs we can offer, what kind of green economy constructs can we create in regions like these where diversified options exist for people,
05:29 how can they be absorbed into agriculture which is productive, can you create renewable energy complexes in these areas and those people can be employed.
05:38 But these are all distributed ideas and they don't exist in any kind of policy and regulation and perhaps that's where effort needs to be.
05:46 India's transition to clean, renewable energy will have its share of challenges. But people like Mahua, Vidya and Kailash remind us that a new world is on its way.
06:00 (upbeat music)