Europe awaiting Nano car’s electric version

Though the fate of Tata Motors’ Nano plant at Singur in West Bengal still hangs in a limbo, nations around the world still want to see the cheapest car driving on their roads at the earliest; preferably in its battery-operated, environment-friendly version.

“I can say that alike other nations, entire Europe is also eagerly awaiting the commercial launch of Nano. But keeping in mind the adverse impact of carbon dioxide (Co2) on environment, it would be advisable to have Nano’s electric version. I hope Tata (Ratan) is working on it,” said European Commission’s Director General for Energy and Transport Matthias Ruete.

Emission-free transport

Talking to The Hindu during his recent visit to India, where he forged ties for cooperation in the field of energy and transport between the European Union and India, Mr. Ruete said keeping in mind the growing cost of fuel, electric (battery operated) engine was the only solution to emission-free transport.

Informing that European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, has been working on a sustainable transport policy that aims at reducing of Co2 emissions and transform public transport, Mr. Ruete said decades ago the industry favoured combustion engine over electric engine as the price of fuel was never an issue, but things have changed now.

Moving backwards

“We are now moving backwards. And once we get the right battery technology for our automotive industry, we will be moving back directly to electric cars or indirectly to fuel cells or hydrogen-operated vehicles,” he added.

Predicting that in another 20 years electric cars will enjoy a good share in the market, Mr. Ruete said new efficient trams were being developed.

“I think soon logistics and delivery system in cities would be shifted to electric vehicles. More hi-speed trains would become integral part of public transport. The whole transport industry and businesses are working on developing new fuel-efficient models. We are also working on finding an alternative to kerosene,” he said, underlying the efforts being taken by the EU to reduce emissions.

Intermediate steps

Talking about alternate source of fuel, Mr. Ruete said bio-fuels or other source like CNG or LPG were only intermediate steps that can could work with existing technologies, but more comprehensive solutions were needed.

Stating that there was no necessary link between higher food prices and bio-fuels, though it might have a link in case of corn, Mr. Ruete said EU wanted that land being used for food production should not be used for bio-fuel production.

“We have to make sure that wasteland and spare land are used for bio-fuel production. We need to have an overall balance. We need to generate second generation bio-fuels from straw or other materials,” he added.