Delhi govt replacing its old fossil fuel cars with EVs, scrapping old vehicles

Delhi government has started scrapping its old petrol and diesel vehicles and procuring electric vehicles in an attempt to reduce carbon emission from its official vehicle fleet. The move comes as the Delhi government is aiming to reduce air pollution in the national capital that has become severe in the last couple of years, owing to several reasons including vehicular emission.

A PTI report claims that the General Administration Department (GAD) has recently procured 12 electric vehicles that will be used by the ministers and top officials of the Delhi government. The old petrol and diesel vehicles that have already crossed the limit of their permitted lifespan are being sent to scrapping by the GAD, reveals the report.

GAD is also working on the replacement of several vehicles with VIP series registration numbers like 0001, which are parked in a parking lot near the Delhi Secretariat. While these vehicles will be scrapped, their VIP registration numbers will be retained for registration of new vehicles to be procured by the department, reveals the report.

The move comes in line with the ruling issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The NGT ordered previously that petrol vehicles older than 15 years and diesel vehicles older than 10 years cannot ply in the national capital. After the introduction of the Electric Vehicle Policy in August 2020, several government departments and autonomous bodies of the Delhi government started replacing their old petrol and diesel vehicle fleet with electric vehicles, on a case-to-case basis.

The process has been expedited after the introduction of the vehicle scrappage policy last year. Also, the Delhi government in February last year had directed all its departments and autonomous bodies to hire or purchase only electric vehicles for their fleets. Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that all departments of the Delhi government would use only electric vehicles. "Over 2,000 petrol and diesel vehicles will be replaced with electric vehicles," Deputy he said.

However, the higher upfront cost of electric vehicles as compared to their conventional fuel-powered counterparts is one challenge the Delhi government has been facing when it comes to replacing their old fossil fuel vehicles with EVs.