India must accelerate shift to alternative energy, promote electric trucks: PM Advisor

India needs to accelerate its transition to domestically available alternative energy sources and promote electric trucks to drive the shift towards cleaner and more sustainable mobility, Tarun Kapoor, Advisor to the Prime Minister, said on Thursday.

Addressing the 66th SIAM Annual Convention, Kapoor said the country should aim for a significant transformation in the energy and mobility landscape over the next five years rather than rely on incremental changes.

"We need to transition to alternative energy sources available in India as quickly as possible. For this, we must promote electric trucks," Kapoor said.

He noted that electric trucks have already started being manufactured in India, reflecting the industry's growing capabilities in the segment. However, he stressed the need to deepen domestic manufacturing and increase local value addition to make electric trucks more affordable and competitive.

"If we want to set a timeline for ourselves, then we should see a very major transition in the next five years. We want that the whole landscape should change and those incremental changes will not really help us," he said.

Kapoor said greater localisation, particularly in battery manufacturing, could play a key role in reducing the cost of electric trucks.

"If we add more value, such as manufacturing batteries locally in India, these trucks can potentially be available at a good, competitive price," he said.

He said the broader shift towards electric mobility is part of a global move towards sustainability, energy efficiency and cleaner fuels, and India would also need to align its automotive sector with this transition.

"The main change which is happening is that everyone is moving towards sustainability, towards energy efficiency, towards electric, towards fuels which are more environment friendly and we also have to do that," Kapoor said.

The Prime Minister's Advisor also called for greater focus on domestic manufacturing of semiconductors and other critical automotive components to reduce vulnerabilities arising from dependence on global supply chains.

Referring to recent disruptions in the supply of rare-earth magnets, Kapoor cautioned that excessive dependence on concentrated sources for critical inputs could pose risks to the automotive industry.

"Please expect some major things to come from our side and the industry has to be prepared for that," he said.

The comments come as India's automobile industry is increasingly focusing on electrification, localisation of supply chains and energy efficiency, with heavy commercial vehicles emerging as an important segment in the country's transition towards cleaner mobility.