NEW DELHI: Two years after launching the electric vehicle policy, the Delhi government on Friday notified the policy for implementation in the national capital. With the aim to set global benchmarks in electric vehicles, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the government’s effort would be to have 25% of all new vehicle registrations to be EVs. Delhi is one of the most polluted cities in the world.
The Aam Aadmi Party government had approved the Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy, 2019, in December last year, a few months before the state assembly elections. Pollution was one of the major points of discussions during the elections.
“In the next five years, Delhi will be leading in the field of electric vehicles. I am happy to say that this policy is not only the most progressive of its kind in the country, but it is also considered as one of the most progressive policies of all the electric policies across the world,” Kejriwal said, announcing the notification.
The policy focuses on electric two-wheelers, shared transport vehicles and goods carriers as they contribute the maximum to air pollution. The government will offer a scrapping incentive of up to Rs 5,000. An incentive of Rs 5,000 per KWh of battery capacity will also be provided per vehicle subject to a maximum incentive of Rs 30,000 per vehicle.
To support e-auto purchase, an incentive of Rs 30,000 per vehicle will be provided by the government and interest subvention of 5% on loans. There will be zero registration fee and no road tax for e-vehicles in the notified policy. For better implementation, a state electric vehicle board will be set up and will be chaired by the state transport minister. In addition to this, EV fund will be started for various incentive schemes mentioned in the policy.
About 200 battery charging points will be setup by the government for users to have easy access. Puneet Gupta, Associate Director of IHS Markit, said: “It is a welcome step by the Delhi government to notify the policy but the real challenge will be in four-wheeler purchases.”The Delhi government has been taking steps to increase the use of battery based transport.
Last year the transport department decided to augment its fleet of buses by inducting 1,000 electric buses.
“Finally, we have the much-awaited EV policy for Delhi. This policy will provide more push to the existing EV architecture.” said Sohinder Gill, Director General of the Society of Manufacturers of Electric
Vehicles.