{"id":61832,"date":"2024-12-17T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/?post_type=article&#038;p=61832"},"modified":"2026-01-14T18:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T13:18:11","slug":"are-indias-auto-mechanics-being-left-behind-in-the-ev-transition","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/article\/livelihoods\/are-indias-auto-mechanics-being-left-behind-in-the-ev-transition\/","title":{"rendered":"Are India\u2019s auto mechanics being left behind in the EV transition?"},"content":{"rendered":"<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Are India&rsquo;s auto mechanics being left behind in the EV transition?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XVBcEWktO_8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Currently, Indian cities account for more than <a href=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/article\/climate-emergency\/why-urban-india-needs-climate-action-plans-now\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">70 percent<\/a> of the country&rsquo;s annual carbon emissions. Road transport, including passenger vehicles, alone contributes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchsquare.com\/article\/rs-297185\/v1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">62 percent<\/a> of emissions in this sector, making it a significant factor in the country&rsquo;s carbon footprint as of 2021.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The impact of this trend is alarming. India is home to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.business-standard.com\/india-news\/the-unwanted-crown-39-of-world-s-100-most-polluted-cities-are-from-india-124111901145_1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">39 of the world&rsquo;s 100<\/a> most polluted cities.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vehicle exhaust from petrol- and diesel-powered cars releases harmful pollutants that deteriorate air quality and harm public health. These emissions not only exacerbate respiratory illnesses and cardiovascular conditions but also undermine India&rsquo;s progress towards its net-zero targets. As part of its commitment at the COP 26 summit, India aims to achieve <a href=\"https:\/\/climatepromise.undp.org\/what-we-do\/where-we-work\/india#:~:text=India%20has%20committed%20to%20reducing,net%2Dzero%20emissions%20by%202070.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">net-zero emissions by 2070<\/a> and, by 2030, reduce its emission intensity by 45 percent from 2005 levels. A cornerstone of this effort is the electrification of vehicles. Unlike traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, electric vehicles (EVs) have the potential to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p><div id=\"idron-3936599906\" class=\"idron-article-in-content idron-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-bottom: 15px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/idranswers.idronline.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"What is IDR Answers Page Banner\"><img src=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1.png\" alt=\"What is IDR Answers Page Banner\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1.png 1250w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1-300x60.png 300w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1-1024x205.png 1024w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1-150x30.png 150w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/What-is-IDR-Answers-Page-Banner-1-768x154.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1250px) 100vw, 1250px\" width=\"1250\" height=\"250\"   \/><\/a><\/div><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">India&rsquo;s EV market is already gaining momentum, having registered 1.6 million sales in 2023, and the country has set ambitious goals for 2030&mdash;an 80 percent transition to EV for two-wheelers and 30 percent transition for four-wheelers. However, this shift has implications for those whose livelihoods rely on traditional industries, such as automobile mechanics. These workers, many of whom lack formal education and training, fear becoming obsolete as EVs introduce complex systems reliant on battery, software, and diagnostics tools. The cost of new instruments and a lack of reskilling programmes further alienate small-scale mechanics. Their concerns highlight the broader need for just and equitable transitions that prioritise workers&rsquo; inclusion and adaptation.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For this video, we spoke with automobile mechanics in New Delhi to understand their perspectives on the transition to EVs, their plans for adaptation, and how they foresee its impact on their livelihoods. As the EV transition accelerates, it carries the risk of sidelining marginalised workers in India&rsquo;s informal sector. This highlights the urgent need for policies that prioritise reskilling opportunities; affordable access to technology; and inclusive, worker-focused planning.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&mdash;<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-know-more\">Know more<\/h3><ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Read <a href=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/article\/climate-emergency\/rising-temperature-falling-income-heat-stress-in-the-informal-sector\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">why<\/a> climate adaptation plans must address the impact of rising heat stress on informal workers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Learn <a href=\"https:\/\/earthjournalism.net\/stories\/indias-transition-to-evs-threatens-millions-of-auto-sector-jobs-at-a-time-of-rising\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">how<\/a> India&rsquo;s EV transition is threatening millions of jobs in the country&rsquo;s automobile sector.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"idron-2309421232\" class=\"idron-troublemakers-placement idron-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-bottom: 20px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/donate\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"donate banner\"><img src=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1.jpg\" alt=\"donate banner\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1.jpg 1250w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1-300x60.jpg 300w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1-1024x205.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1-150x30.jpg 150w, https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Donate-banner-1-768x154.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1250px) 100vw, 1250px\" width=\"1250\" height=\"250\"   \/><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":61834,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[1889,582,11],"tags":[3590,466,3656,3666],"series":[],"meta-filter":[],"schema-filter":[743],"no-display":[],"class_list":["post-61832","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-emergency","category-instagram","category-livelihoods","tag-carbon-emissions","tag-climate-change","tag-just-transition","tag-marginalised-communities","contributor-saba-kohli-dave","contributor-shreya-adhikari","contributor-shriya-roy","states-delhi","schema-filter-article"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Are India\u2019s auto mechanics being left behind in the EV transition?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As India accelerates its shift towards electric vehicles, it risks sidelining marginalised workers in the informal sector, including local automobile mechanics.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/article\/livelihoods\/are-indias-auto-mechanics-being-left-behind-in-the-ev-transition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"kn_IN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are India\u2019s auto mechanics being left behind in the EV transition?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As India accelerates its shift towards electric vehicles, it risks sidelining marginalised workers in the informal sector, including local automobile mechanics.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/article\/livelihoods\/are-indias-auto-mechanics-being-left-behind-in-the-ev-transition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"India Development Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-14T13:18:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/auto-mechanic-1.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Are India\u2019s auto mechanics being left behind in the EV transition?","description":"As India accelerates its shift towards electric vehicles, it risks sidelining marginalised workers in the informal sector, including local automobile mechanics.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/article\/livelihoods\/are-indias-auto-mechanics-being-left-behind-in-the-ev-transition\/","og_locale":"kn_IN","og_type":"article","og_title":"Are India\u2019s auto mechanics being left behind in the EV transition?","og_description":"As India accelerates its shift towards electric vehicles, it risks sidelining marginalised workers in the informal sector, including local automobile mechanics.","og_url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/article\/livelihoods\/are-indias-auto-mechanics-being-left-behind-in-the-ev-transition\/","og_site_name":"India Development Review","article_modified_time":"2026-01-14T13:18:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":680,"url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/auto-mechanic-1.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/article\/livelihoods\/are-indias-auto-mechanics-being-left-behind-in-the-ev-transition\/","url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/article\/livelihoods\/are-indias-auto-mechanics-being-left-behind-in-the-ev-transition\/","name":"Are India\u2019s auto mechanics being left behind in the EV transition?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/article\/livelihoods\/are-indias-auto-mechanics-being-left-behind-in-the-ev-transition\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/article\/livelihoods\/are-indias-auto-mechanics-being-left-behind-in-the-ev-transition\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/auto-mechanic-1.webp","datePublished":"2024-12-17T06:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-14T13:18:11+00:00","description":"As India accelerates its shift towards electric vehicles, it risks sidelining marginalised workers in the informal sector, including local automobile mechanics.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/article\/livelihoods\/are-indias-auto-mechanics-being-left-behind-in-the-ev-transition\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"kn-IN","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/idronline.org\/article\/livelihoods\/are-indias-auto-mechanics-being-left-behind-in-the-ev-transition\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"kn-IN","@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/article\/livelihoods\/are-indias-auto-mechanics-being-left-behind-in-the-ev-transition\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/auto-mechanic-1.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/auto-mechanic-1.webp","width":1024,"height":680,"caption":"An auto mechanic standing beside a car-mechanics"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/article\/livelihoods\/are-indias-auto-mechanics-being-left-behind-in-the-ev-transition\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Articles","item":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Are India\u2019s auto mechanics being left behind in the EV transition?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/","name":"India Development Review","description":"India&#039;s first and largest online journal for leaders in the development community","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"kn-IN"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/#organization","name":"India Development Review","url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"kn-IN","@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/idr-logo-without-tagline-sm.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/idr-logo-without-tagline-sm.webp","width":1,"height":1,"caption":"India Development Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/61832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61832"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/61832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61837,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/61832\/revisions\/61837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61832"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=61832"},{"taxonomy":"meta-filter","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/meta-filter?post=61832"},{"taxonomy":"schema-filter","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/schema-filter?post=61832"},{"taxonomy":"no-display","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/no-display?post=61832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}