Delhi Cabinet passes electric vehicle policy

The Delhi Cabinet on Monday gave approval to an electric vehicle (EV) policy with an aim to reduce air pollution. There is a special provision in the policy which allows operation of e-bike taxis by cab aggregators such as Ola and Uber.

With the use of subsidies, the policy aims to raise the number of e-vehicles to 25 per cent of the total registered vehicles in the city by 2024. "The EV policy, approved by Delhi Cabinet, aims to transform the national capital into EV capital of India," Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a press conference.

Under the Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy 2019, the city government is providing a subsidy of Rs 5,000 per kWh of battery capacity on the purchase of two-wheelers. Incentive of up to Rs 5,000 will be offered for scrapping of a non-electric two-wheeler vehicle and switching to an electric vehicle, the chief minister said. The purchase subsidy of four-wheelers is Rs 10,000 per kWh of battery capacity for the first 1,000 cars subject to a cap of Rs 1,50,000 per vehicle. The Delhi government also aims to transition 50 per cent of the newly-purchased buses into electric buses by 2024 and 100 per cent by 2030. There will be no road tax on registration fees on electric vehicles, Kejriwal said.

All two-wheelers engaged in last-mile deliveries, such as food delivery vehicles, courier services, and e-commerce logistics, will be expected to transition 50 per cent of their fleet to electric by March 2023, and 100 per cent of their fleet to electric by March 2025, stipulates the policy. The purchase subsidy on electric autos, e-rickshaws, and e-carriers is up to Rs 30,000 and loans on a subsidy of 5 per cent will be provided to them, he said.

The electric vehicle policy will be implemented through a board to be constituted by the city government. It will also has a separate fund for setting up logistics like charging stations, the chief minister said. "We hope that 35,000 electric vehicles will be inducted in Delhi within the next one year, and 250 charging stations will be constructed across the city."

Within the next five years, five lakh electric vehicles are expected to be registered in Delhi after the policy comes into operation through a gazette notification, he said. These electric vehicles are estimated to save approximately Rs 6,000 crores worth of oil and liquid natural gas consumption.

They will also avoid emissions of 4.8 million tonnes of CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions, which is equivalent to avoiding CO2 emissions from nearly one lakh petrol cars over their lifetime, as well as 159 tonnes of PM 2.5 emissions, he stated. Kejriwal said private charging stations will be built and building bylaws will be changed for the induction and operation of the electric vehicles.