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Battery Electric vehicles produce zero local emissions and reduce dependency on fossil fuels. They open up possibility of efficient use of renewable energy in transport sector. India is endowed with high solar irradiance in most of the regions and seasons. Hence, tapping the solar energy for electrification of vehicles would be a sustainable solution in long run. Since significant amount of fossil fuels are consumed for public transportation, electrification of public transportation is a necessary step towards sustainability. However, range limitation is a serious constraint for electric buses. The technologies such as lightweight design of bus body and integration of solar panels on roof top of the bus can help in reducing the total energy consumption requirement.

The automotive industry has to accommodate regulatory norms as well as customer demands in its vehicle design. These include better crash safety, new subsystems (for comfort) and high performance powertrains, all of which lead to increase in vehicle mass. Heavy vehicles consume more fuel and produce more emissions. While there are several ways to increase fuel efficiency (i.e. improving engine and transmission efficiency, reducing aerodynamic drag, and rolling resistance), the most effective means of achieving improved fuel efficiency is by reducing the overall weight of the vehicle. Hence, materials selection plays a significant role in the fuel economy, emissions as well as economics of transportation. If mass of a component is reduced there will be secondary mass reductions in other components, thus resulting in further reduction of final vehicle mass (‘mass decompounding’). The paper highlights potential benefits of using lightweight materials for vehicle body applications.