Driving Towards Sustainability The Rise of Fuel Efficient Vehicles in Asia

Asia is emerging as one of the largest markets for automobiles globally. With growing economic prosperity and expanding middle class, vehicle ownership is rising rapidly across many Asian countries. However, this increased vehicle usage is also contributing significantly to air pollution and carbon emissions in many Asian cities. At the same time, dependence on imported oil is also increasing fuel security concerns for these nations. To address these environmental and energy challenges, Asian countries are promoting fuel efficient vehicles through supportive policies and investments in sustainable mobility technologies.

Pioneering Efforts of Japan and South Korea

Japan and South Korea have been pioneers in developing and commercializing fuel efficient vehicles in Asia. Both countries have faced challenges of lack of domestic oil reserves and crowded cities with poor air quality. This has prompted their auto industries to invest heavily in hybrid and electric vehicles since 1990s. Toyota's Prius hybrid is the world's best selling hybrid having sold over 15 million units globally since 1997 debut. Hyundai, Kia and others now offer affordable small hybrids and EVs.

Stringent CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) norms by governments support this transition. In Japan, average new car must get over 26 km/l while in South Korea it is 20 km/l by 2020. Tax incentives are also provided for buying green vehicles. As a result, hybrids now account for over 50% of new passenger vehicle sales in Japan. Green growth policies help these nations cut oil imports, save consumers fuel costs and reduce urban emissions substantially. Their low-carbon vehicle technologies also drive exports and green manufacturing globally.

China Emphasizing New Energy Vehicles

As the largest automobile market, China aims to dominate new energy vehicles(NEV) including plug-in hybrids and battery EVs. Aggressive targets are set to push NEV sales to 25% of new car sales by 2025. Major subsidies up to $7,500 are offered for NEV purchases till 2020. China is also investing over $60 billion to build a strong network of charging stations countrywide. Over 500,000 public charging points are planned in major cities and highways by 2025.

This massive domestic market scale has attracted Asia (Japan, South Korea, China, India and ASEAN) Fuel Efficient Vehicles giants like Tesla, GM, Volkswagen to set up local factories and develop affordable EVs for Chinese consumers. Startups like Nio, Xpeng and BYD are also coming up with innovative models. To ensure energy security, China is also supporting battery development with targets to install 100 GWh of battery manufacturing capacity by 2020. The country's transition to e-mobility could significantly cut oil imports and reduce toxic air pollution currently endangering human health in Chinese cities.

India Promoting Shared Mobility and CNG Vehicles

With growing congestion and pollution concerns in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, India is actively promoting shared mobility solutions and cleaner vehicle technologies through various schemes. Auto-rickshaws, taxis and buses are being replaced with CNG models across many cities under central and state initiatives. New Delhi was among the first metros globally to fully convert its public transport fleet to environment-friendly CNG fuel. India is also encouraging ride- and vehicle-sharing services like Ola, Uber to reduce individual vehicle usage and emissions.

For private cars, India introduced Bharat Stage VI emission norms from 2020 mandating fuel efficiency standards of over 22 km/litre. While EV adoption is at a nascent stage, Govt envisions 30% electric vehicles by 2030 through production-linked incentive schemes for battery and automobile manufacturing. It also plans a network of EV charging stations across highways and cities. These measures could help India transition its mobility landscape to low-carbon growth path in coming decades.

Fuel Efficient Growth across ASEAN

Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam are also promoting more fuel efficient vehicles to balance economic development and environmental protection. ASEAN has set an ambitious goal to transition new vehicle sales to EVs and hybrids by 2030. Thailand provides generous EV and hybrid purchase rebates of over $2,500 per vehicle. It also mandates that automakers' new vehicle fleets meet average CO2 standards of 105 grams/km by 2025.

Indonesia aims to have 13,000 public EV charging stations nationwide by 2025. Vietnam is building battery recycling centers to support the expected rise of EVs in coming years. As local manufacturing scales up across ASEAN by global automakers, production costs could compete favorably with China and India. This could boost sales of more affordable green vehicles across the entire Southeast Asian region. International collaboration under the EV123 program between China, Japan and South Korea also helps transfer green mobility technologies to other Asian markets.

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