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The Delhi government has decided to extend its electric vehicle policy for another three months, as it was scheduled to expire on 31st December. With this move, the Delhi EV Policy is now intended to be extended till 31st March 2024, reported PTI. This move would bring a much-awaited breather for the consumers who intend to purchase electric vehicles in the Delhi-NCR as well as other stakeholders of the EV industry.
The report claims that the Delhi government's cabinet will accord its approval to extend the Delhi EV Policy till 31st March 2024. The policy was notified in August 2020. It was announced aiming at raising the share of electric vehicles in the national capital to 25 per cent by 2024.
The Delhi EV Policy originally expired on 8th August 2023 and since then it has received repeated extensions. Currently, the Delhi government is reportedly working on the new electric vehicle policy but it has not been decided yet when it will come into effect. As it seems, the Delhi government is aiming to continue extending the current EV policy until the new policy is enforced.
Earlier, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said that the Delhi EV Policy 2.0 would look at incentivising the retrofitting of vehicles considering the higher cost of that. This would enable the EV buyers to retrofit their existing petrol or diesel-propelled vehicles into electric vehicles, which would allow them to shift into electric mobility at a significantly lesser cost than buying a brand-new EV. The minister said that to convert a normal petrol-run Maruti Suzuki Gypsy into an EV, it takes almost ₹5 lakh to ₹6 lakh, which is on the higher side. Gahlot hinted that with the aid of the Delhi EV Policy 2.0, that cost would be much less for the consumers.