Delhi's new EV Policy will focus on charging infra, purchase incentives

The national capital is gearing up to launch its new EV Policy after the 2020 policy expired on August 8 and was extended by the government. Transport Commissioner Ashish Kundra has said that the new EV Policy will place focus on strengthening the charging infrastructure and expanding the financing basket for rolling out purchase incentives, thus encouraging EV adoption by commuters.

Speaking at a summit on clean transport organised by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) along with the Indian G20 Secretariat on Monday, Kundra said that the government is targeting electrification of at least 80 per cent of the bus fleet by 2025. The next EV Policy will also target newer vehicle segments such as light and medium-duty trucks or goods vehicles that carry out intra-city operations. "For instance, garbage tippers or tankers or even school buses," he said.

The state government is also aiming full EV transition of delivery service fleet and all government official fleet to be completed during the same period.

The Delhi EV Policy was first launched in 2020 with an aim to reduce carbon emissions and make people aware of the benefits of using battery-powered vehicles. However, the share of electric vehicles in personal mobility fleet is still limited.

According to the Delhi EV cell, the city has added 4,000 EV charging points since the policy was implemented. It also has 300 electric buses in operation with another 1,500 buses to be added by the end of this year. The target of 8,000 electric buses by 2025 will help Delhi to take major step towards reducing carbon footprint and curtail vehicular pollution.