HAVING A TRUCK WITH LNG

Things are changing rapidly with the entry of the private sector, but the path of LNG trucks in India is strewn with rocks

- S DINAKAR

As India presents its credentials at the 29th edition of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, this week, its heavy-duty transport sector, the biggest source of emissions in transportation, will be top of the mind for many who are looking for a shift from diesel to liquefied natural gas, or LNG, fuelling the country's march towards Net Zero by 2070.

The idea is not new. State-run Petronet LNG, India's biggest LNG importer, has harboured plans of using the fuel in the transport sector for the past six years. But lack of government incentives and resistance from small transporters meant that though Petronet had planned 1,000 LNG retail outlets in three years, it ended up establishing only a couple.

What has changed now is the entry of the private sector and an acceptance among India's large corporations that their emissions need to be in order before government regulations come calling.

The result is that from Gautam Adani to Prashant Ruia, and from heads of India's top state-run oil and gas companies to top city gas utilities, everyone is betting on turning India's goods transport by road green. Not by electrifying the trucks but by replacing diesel with the cleaner and more affordable LNG.

The business case is humongous if you look at the success of gas-fired heavy vehicles in China, where rough estimates value the LNG needed for these vehicles at $9 billion annually. A million trucks are expected to be on China's roads next year worth $70 billion at Indian ticket prices.

But India's LNG trucks' path is strewn with rocks, namely, poor infrastructure, high vehicle prices, lack of government support, and a highly fragmented market dominated by small transporters.