Electric Vehicle Transition: India, Australia in danger of becoming dumping grounds for polluting cars

Electric Vehicle Transition: A new report by London-based think-tank Carbon Tracker has revealed that nations that are slow in adapting to electric vehicle are at a major risk of accumulating used gasoline based cars.

Senior automotive analyst at Carbon Tracker, Ben Scott wrote in the report that automakers may resort to selling older, polluting models in Africa, Asia and South America as China, North America and Europe are phasing out internal combustion engine vehicles.

Countries with weak decarbonisation target

The report has identified India, Australia, Thailand, Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia and South Africa as the countries with weak or no targets to decarbonise cars. As the momentum to use recycled materials for battery production is rising in some places, it would be difficult for many of the countries to to import second-hand EVs from them.

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Scott also mentioned that the financial burden of imports on developing nations will also get worse without clear goals to end sales of gasoline vehicles. For Instance, Africa spends $80 billion a year on importing transport fuels, accounting for 2.5% of its gross domestic product.

The report also mentions that Asia and South America together could save over $100 billion a year on fuel imports and reduce trade deficits through policies that aid EV adoption.

Steps to aide energy transition

The Carbon Tracker report also lists down the steps that the governments have to take for the EV transition. It says, government should incentivise the shift with policies such as import bans and age restrictions on used cars, emission limits and the removal of tariffs on EVs. Increasing domestic production and recycling of EVs are also crucial steps to cut transport emissions.

The report further mentions that, accelerating the switch to battery-powered vehicles will open up economic opportunities ranging from mineral mining and manufacturing to sales, infrastructure and recycling for developing markets