Transforming trucking in India: pathways to zero-emission truck deployment
Zero-emissions trucks (ZETs) — including battery-electric trucks and fuel-cell-electric trucks — can reduce air pollution and transportation costs while enhancing industrial competitiveness, benefiting both citizens and the Indian economy. Road freight accounts for more than 25 percent of annual oil imports. ZET adoption can avoid 838 billion liters of diesel consumption cumulatively by 2050, resulting in upward of $1.5 trillion of reduced oil expenditures. Widespread ZET adoption can reduce associated trucking particular matter and nitrous oxide pollution by nearly 40 percent by 2050, substantially improving air quality. Similarly, replacing diesel trucks with ZETs in India could eliminate up to 3.8 cumulative gigatons of carbon emissions between now and 2050 — one of the world’s most significant decarbonization opportunities in the transportation sector. This report outlines the economic case for scaling ZET adoption and presents a blend of near-term and long-term strategies and solutions — including policy, financing, access to charging, and technology innovation — that can enable India to capitalize on the far-reaching benefits of a zero-emissions trucking future. The report also shows that the estimated total cost of ownership for medium-duty ZETs under a mature production scenario is lower than diesel trucks and could feasibly reach parity in the heavy-duty truck segment by 2027.
