The Delhi Cabinet on Monday passed an Electric Vehicle Policy to help reduce air pollution, said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Under the policy, the government aims to make electric vehicles 25% of all new vehicles registered in the city by 2024. Also, the government will develop public charging infrastructure, instal charging stations every three km and give subsidies to people buying electric vehicles, among others.
“To tackle the issue of air pollution, the Cabinet has decided to pass the Electric Vehicle Policy, which is an ambitious policy in its scope. Vehicles amount to 40% of PM2.5 air pollution levels and 80% of carbon monoxide in the air,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
“Funding for the various incentives under Delhi EV Policy will be obtained from multiple sources such as pollution/diesel cess, road tax, Environment compensation charge (ECC), etc., which will be monitored under State EV Fund. A State EV Board shall be constituted as the apex body for the effective implementation and monitoring of the policy,” he added.
The first draft of the policy came out in November 2018. It was put in public domain and discussions were held with experts and suggestions were also taken from public.
Last-mile deliveries
“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% of their fleet to electric by March 2023, and 100% by March 2025. Likewise, the purchase subsidy on electric autos, e-rickshaws, and e-carriers is up to ₹30,000 and loans on a subsidy of 5% will be provided to them,” the Chief Minister said.
Mr. Kejriwal said currently, the percentage strength of electric two-wheelers is less than 0.2% and that of three-wheelers is almost zero.
“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. We also hope that within the next five years, five lakh electric vehicles will be registered in Delhi. Over their lifetime, these electric vehicles are estimated to save approximately ₹6,000 crore 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. They will also help avoid about 159 tonnes of PM 2.5 emissions,” he said.
Under the EV Policy, the government will provide a subsidy of ₹5,000 per kWh of battery capacity on the purchase of two-wheelers. Scrapping incentive up to ₹5000 will be offered for scrapping of a non-electric two-wheeler vehicle and switching to an electric vehicle.
“The government will provide a 100% subsidy for the purchase of charging equipment up to ₹6,000 per charging point for the first 30,000 charging points at homes/workplaces. The subsidy is to be routed through DISCOMS who will be in-charge of charger installations,” the Chief Minister added.
Also, a special provision has been made for cab aggregators, under which they will be allowed to operate electric two-wheeler taxis. He said 20% of the parking areas of workplace and residential parking will have vehicle holding capacity as EV enabled with charging options.
Mr. Kejriwal said the Cabinet has approved that all Delhi Transport Corporation regular employees will get a transport allowance of around ₹4,000 a month.
