A 3-part dialogues series on exploring sustainable mobility solutions in Asia, the event is being conducted by the Asian Century Foundation (ACF) in partnership with WRI India Ross Center.

The dialogue series will focus on various aspects of ‘Sustainable Mobility’ in India, China and South-East Asia and will offer a platform to academics, practitioners, and policy professionals, working in this area, to engage with each other. The goal of these discussions is to enable exchange of best practices and success stories that have worked in Asian countries.

Session 3: Citizen Engagement for accelerating EV adoption

There are many barriers to low uptake of electric vehicles such as lack of charging infrastructure, limited availability of land, high cost of financing etc. However, one of the most important issues that is often neglected is the public outreach for electric mobility. Motivating citizens to adopt electric vehicles has been a challenge for many cities and governments. This dialogue session will focus on behavior change campaigns, public messaging and capacity-building activities that have worked in different countries.

Topics we will cover

• What are the major factors that enable citizens to adopt electric vehicles?
• Successful campaigns and case studies from focus countries.
• How have these campaigns been able to bring out a behavioural change among the masses?

Speakers

• Golda Hilario, Associate (Program Development), Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities
• Kranti Sambhav, Editor and Lead, Times Drive & Gadget Times, Times Network Digital
• Dr. Small Ivan, Associate Professor, Central Connecticut State University
• Kumar Manish, Founder, Urban Voices
• Michael Kugelman, Deputy Director and Senior Associate for South Asia, Wilson Center

Session 2: Policy & Financing Support for Electric Vehicles

Policies play a significant role in scaling the adoption of electric vehicles. However, the high upfront cost is a key barrier to EV uptake. This session aims to deep-dive into the various policies and financing mechanisms that have furthered the EV market in different Asian countries.

Topics we will cover

• Policies that can help transition ICE vehicles to electric
• Innovative financing to support electric vehicle transition
• Key takes from major multilateral lending institutions

Speakers

• Ery Wijaya, Senior Analyst, Climate Policy Initiative
• Mathias Lund Larsen, PhD fellow, Copenhagen Business School
• Holger Dalkman, CEO, Sustrans
• Easwaran Narassimhan, Postdoctoral scholar, Climate Policy Lab at The Fletcher School, Tufts University
• Swati Khanna, Senior sector specialist (Urban Mobility) KfW Development Bank
• Zifie Yang, International Council on Clean Transportation
• Poonam Sandhu, India Team Lead, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
• John Graham, Paul H. O’Neill, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University (Moderator)

Session 1: Electrification of Public Transport

Public transport is the backbone of sustainable transport however it largely relies on diesel or compressed natural gas. A shift towards clean energy will bring multi-dimensional benefits. Session 1 aims to develop strong support for the electrification of public transport - specifically buses, taxis and tuk-tuks (3-wheelers) across India, China and South-East Asia.

Topics we will cover

The kind of infrastructure that is needed to electrify public transportation (buses, taxis, tuk-tuks), in terms of the grid, land use and technology.

Speakers

• Dario Hidalgo, Consultant, Sustainable Transport System
• Agung Wicaksono, Assistant Professor, School of Business & Management, Institute Technology, Bandung
• Ravi Gadepalli, Consultant, International Association of Public Transport (UITP)
• Priyank Lathwal, Harvard Post-Doctoral Fellow
• Charu Lata, Lead Consultant, Electric Mobility and Clean Energy, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
• Amit Bhatt, Executive Director, Integrated Transport, WRI India (Moderator)