Vehicle emission kills, affects devt of children — Deputy Energy Minister

Emission kills people and affects the physical and mental development of children which calls for an urgent need to change to electric vehicles, the Deputy Minister of Energy, Herbert Krampa, has said.

He suggested other alternative means of transport to include walking, cycling and mass transit.

This was contained in a speech read on behalf of the deputy minister at a stakeholder consultation forum on the development of a national Electric Vehicle Policy in Sunyani in the Bono Region last Monday.

Participants shared ideas and made input into the draft document to ensure the smooth passage of the policy which also seeks to promote and ensure the use of electric vehicles as an alternative cleaner efficient means of transport.

The forum was jointly organised by the Ministries of Energy, Transport and Finance, in collaboration with a Public Sector Reform for Results Project (PSRRP).

Renewable energy

Mr Krampa, said the use of electric vehicles in the country would promote renewable energy and contribute to reduction in pollution.

He said a recent report of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) made it clear that the world had less than 10 years to switch to renewable energy to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Mr Krampa, added that it was not so much a “lifestyle choice”, but a necessity for everyone to switch to EVs in the next few years to contribute to reduction of global warming.

He said statistics from the International Trade Centre indicated that about 17,660 Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs) were imported into the country between January 2017 and December 2021.

The deputy minister added that imported motorised Electric Two and Three-wheelers were 9,431 units and Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) imported from China within the same period was 98 per cent.

He said in 2021, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) reported that standard hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs) had the highest representation - 91.5 per cent, followed by BEVs at 5.1 per cent and plug-in hybrid electric (PHEVs) at 3.3 per cent.

In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, also said that air pollution, partly caused by emission from vehicles, contributed to diseases such as asthma and bronchitis which killed people prematurely.

He said data from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) indicates that as of 2022, there were about 3.2 million registered vehicles in the country, out of which 72 per cent were powered by petrol engines, 27 per cent by diesel engines and less than one per cent by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and other energy sources.

Significance

The Bono Regional Minister, Justina Owusu-Banahene, said the transport sector played a crucial role in the economy and was also essential in promoting social cohesion.

She, however, said that the high dependency on fossil fuels, combined with other factors such as traffic congestion, had resulted in the sector becoming a net emitter of greenhouse gases.

Writer’s email: biiya.ali@graphic.com.gh