"Besides energy security, the clean transition in the trucking sector would also ensure clean air." Sharif Qamar

As India pushes towards cleaner and more energy-efficient mobility, the proposed fuel-efficiency norms for medium- and heavy-duty trucks (MHDTs) are emerging as a crucial policy tool to reduce emissions, improve energy security, and accelerate freight decarbonisation. Although trucks account for just 3 per cent of the country’s vehicle fleet, they contribute nearly 44 per cent of road transport CO₂ emissions and consume a significant share of India’s imported oil. The proposed Phase-2 CAFE-style regulations, alongside initiatives such as PM E-Drive and the upcoming CAFE 3 norms, are expected to reshape the commercial vehicle landscape by promoting higher fuel efficiency and cleaner technologies, including electric trucks. In this exclusive interaction with HT Auto, Mr. Sharif Qamar, Associate Director – Transport & Urban Governance, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), shares his insights on the policy’s potential impact on energy security, EV adoption, freight electrification, and the clean mobility ecosystem in India.

Q: Trucks make up a very small part of India’s vehicle population, but contribute heavily to emissions and fuel consumption. Can the proposed fuel-efficiency norms genuinely change that situation in a meaningful way?

Sharif Qamar: The HDV sector has experienced a drastic rise in energy consumption, mostly because of the country's growing transportation needs. This is particularly due to expansion of construction sector, on-going decline in the proportion of freight movement handled by rail and rise in the proportion of less fuel-efficient road transportation. It should be emphasized that the energy consumption of the entire road transport sector is dominated by HDVs. Therefore, substantially higher amounts of fuel can be saved by increasing fuel efficiency in the heavy-duty sector. In fact, there is a significant scope of improving the fuel-efficiency norms for the HDV and commercial vehicle segment, thereby leading to disproportionate gain in reducing fuel consumption and emissions from this segment.

Q: The government is also linking these norms to energy security. How much difference could better truck efficiency make to India’s oil imports and diesel consumption in the long run?

Sharif Qamar: It is estimated that the dependency on oil imports would increase from the current level of 89% to about 93% by 2031, with more expansion foreseen in the logistics sector. This highlights the need for efficiency improvements in industries like road transportation, to address the issue of India’s energy security.

Q: The proposed rules include incentives for cleaner technologies like electric trucks. Do you think this will be enough to push faster EV adoption in the freight sector?

Sharif Qamar: The demand side and supply side measures are required to incentivize adoption of cleaner technologies in the HDV sector. The good thing is that the cost of operations has come down significantly for electric trucks in the backdrop of rising fuel prices. The gap is expected to increase further with technological advancements and higher scale of production in the electric commercial vehicle segment.

Q: Many fleet operators still see electric trucks as expensive and difficult to operate. Is India realistically ready for large-scale freight electrification yet?

Sharif Qamar: The adoption of e-trucks is expected to be gradual yet strong in the initial phase, given the scale of investments and infrastructure required. The entire ecosystem needs to be in place to make the operations viable. There are use cases, such as cement, mining, steel, etc., where the adoption of e-trucks has taken a huge jump. The certainty factor regarding total distance, route, financing, infrastructure, has played a vital role in higher uptake in these sectors.

Q: Along with PM E-Drive and the upcoming CAFE 3 norms, do these truck-efficiency regulations signal a bigger shift in India’s clean mobility strategy?

Sharif Qamar: The government has given a strong market signal and pinned high hope in the technology by including the truck segment in the PM E-Drive initiative as well as the recent INR 9,585 crore incentive scheme to replace old buses and trucks in the Delhi NCR region. Now with the better HDV efficiency regulation, there is an expectation that certain percentage of electric truck would also be required to be sold by the OEMs to ensure that they cross the regulatory targets.

Q: Freight decarbonisation is now also being seen as an industrial opportunity for India. Which areas of the clean trucking and EV ecosystem could benefit the most from this transition?

Sharif Qamar: Besides energy security, the clean transition in the trucking sector would also ensure clean air. As per our assessment, the high-end yet low-cost interventions required to meet higher fuel efficiency would also open a window of opportunity to the domestic component manufacturers. We have seen that efficiency products have a relatively higher uptake in the global market as well, leading to higher export of Made in India products. The job opportunities in this segment are also expected to get a boost.

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