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Why petrol sells

The higher the price of a commodity, the lesser its consumption. That is the general rule. But this does not seem to be applicable to petroleum products. There is hardly any decrease in the consumption despite the prices of petrol and diesel going up.

Alternative energy sources should have been tapped with more vigour, but very little is being done in this regard. Why does such a situation exist?

The question was posed to the new CII Chairman of Southern Regional Council, R. Parasuraman, at a recent meeting in the city. Petrol is a convenient source for running vehicles. That is the obvious reason behind the lack of interest in other energy sources.

Electric cars have completed test runs successfully, and quite a few are on the roads in various cities within and outside the country. But the batteries providing energy to electric cars need to be charged after a few hours of run, and this seems to be a major hurdle in their promotion. Once this is crossed, it may find better acceptance across the world.

R. Ramabhadran Pillai

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