In its bid to make India an electric vehicles nation by 2030, the government is looking to tighten the ‘22 CAFE norms. Reportedly, a proposal regarding the same has been made in a report submitted by the ministry of road transport to Niti Aayog, reported Inc42.
For the uninitiated, CAFE stands for corporate average fuel economy norms for 2022 or 2023 and has been applied officially since April 1, 2017. Under the CAFE norms, the automakers are required to manufacture cars which are 30% or more fuel efficient from 2022 and 10% or more between 2017 and 2021.
The move comes in line with the fact that the automakers in India have managed to easily achieve the 2017 CAFE norms. Also, many automakers are already compliant with the 2022 cutoffs as well.
The changes in CAFE norms are expected to compel car and SUV makers to invest more in electric and hybrid vehicle technology. However, this can have left auto entry in a perplexed state, as the electric vehicle infrastructure in the country is not yet stable.
Any such decision will also change the CAFE norms in midway which will affect the long-term strategies for the Indian automakers or the international ones who are looking to enter Indian electric vehicle ecosystem. As per reports, a discussion with the automakers is yet to take place around the aforesaid changes.