With the rapid urbanisation, vehicular pollution in India has grown at an alarming rate. And this staggering pace of motorisation can be seen by the rising number of registered vehicles in the country, which went up 700 times from 0.3 million in 1951 to 210 million in 2015, according to a report by environment think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

“Every trip made in a car or two-wheeler pollutes around seven to 14 times more than a trip made in a bus in Delhi,” the study added, stressing the need for an overhaul in our public transport system.

The government’s recent efforts to promote electric vehicles, a leapfrog to Bharat Stage VI (BS VI) emissions standards as well as the new vehicle scrappage policy reflects the Centre’s commitment to address pollution concerns.

And now, the union transport ministry is thinking of a more innovative solution. It’s looking to construct a separate e-highway on the 1,300-kilometre-long Delhi-Mumbai Expressway where trucks and buses can run at a speed of 120 kmph.

This road freight transport powered by electricity is expected to be similar to that in Germany, which introduced the technology on a six-mile-long stretch near the city of Frankfurt in May 2019. It uses 670-volt direct-current overhead cables which let electric trucks draw down power and recharge their batteries on the go.

Although the plan is yet to be approved, the Road Transport and Highway Minister Nitin Gadkari estimates that the step would bring the logistics cost down by 70 per cent. Not to mention the environment benefits that come with it.

Siemens says that the technology can be integrated and operated within the existing road infrastructure without significant effort and combines the efficiency of electrified railroads with the flexibility of trucks, halving energy consumption while maintaining full mobility.