NEW DELHI: As the Delhi government’s electric vehicle (EV) policy completed two years this month, the EV sales have created a record this year with 2022 accounting for every fifth e-vehicle sold in Delhi till date.
Total 33,440 EVs have been sold in Delhi in 2022 till date, the highest ever in a single year and 20.6% of all EVs registered in the city till date.
Also, while e-rickshaws and e-carts constituted the bulk of the EVs sold even till last year, in 2022, their share is less than 27%.
On August 7, 2020, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal launched the EV policy with the aim of ensuring that 25% of all new vehicle registrations by 2024 would be that of EVs. In August 2020, 739 EVs were registered, and from September 2020 to till date, 64,264 EVs have been sold, nearly 40% of the total 1,62,411 EVs registered in the city till date.
In February 2021, Kejriwal launched the Switch Delhi campaign to spread awareness about the benefits of EVs in making the capital clean and pollution-free. As two-third of new vehicle registrations in Delhi comprises of two-wheelers, the focus of the policy was to push the conversion of two-wheelers and commercial three-wheelers into the electric segment, the Delhi government stated.
“On one side, electric vehicles are helping Delhi with the reduction in emissions and air pollution; on the other side, it is creating more employment opportunities, increasing earnings of commercial vehicles and auto owners with lower cost of ownership and giving users an opportunity to take rides in no-sound, comfortable vehicles,” transport minister Kailash Gahlot said, adding that the government is committed to make the national capital the “EV capital of the world”.
“With the onset of EV evolution, I am also excited to see more and more women as drivers both for private and public vehicles on Delhi’s roads. I would like to thank all the stakeholders and Delhi citizens in making Delhi’s EV policy a big success,” Gahlot said.
The government said that till date, Delhi had offered an incentive of nearly Rs 100 crore on EV sales, the highest amount of subsidy offered by any state in India. Apart from purchase incentives, the government has also waived road tax and registration fees for all battery EVs.
The government said increasing sales of EVs had also incentivised the charge point operators to deploy more than 2,000 charging points and battery swapping stations, solving the issue of range anxiety for all EV users. The government also said that to make EV charging affordable, it has already introduced one of the lowest EV tariff in the country at Rs 4.5 per unit.