Delhi aims to double its EV adoption this financial year
These plans were outlined in the outcomes budget document shared by the planning department of the Delhi government on Tuesday
The Delhi government plans to double the number of electric vehicles (EVs) registered in the Capital by the end of the current financial year.
These plans were outlined in the outcomes budget document shared by the planning department of the Delhi government on Tuesday.
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The document — which sets targets for 22 departments of the state government to achieve by end of the financial year — said that the transport department aims to increase the total number of EVs registered in Delhi to 223,988 by the end of March 2024. In comparison, 111,994 EVs were registered in the 2022-23 fiscal.
Among other targets, the outcomes budget also aims at increasing the share of EVs among new vehicles registered in Delhi to 20.94% by the end of March 2024. The figure for the 2022-23 fiscal stood at 10.47%
Similarly, the document also aims at increasing the share of electric cars and two-wheelers among total registered vehicles in Delhi by the end of the current financial year.
“With the goal of developing an efficient transportation system, the transport department has undertaken a variety of innovative schemes and projects...The department is also emphasizing the usage of electric vehicles to curb the air pollution, and for such purpose, e-vehicle policy has been formulated,” the outcomes budget document said.
The outcomes document also states that a total of budget of ₹120 crore is allocated for the EV policy for the 2023-24 fiscal. The department has also allocated ₹90 lakh for pollution control, wherein it aims that all vehicles in Delhi will have a valid PUC (pollution under control) certificate. Currently, around 67% of the two-wheelers and 83.5% of the four-wheelers have a valid PUC, the document said.
The total number of public charging points are also to be increased from the existing 2,734 to 5,468, the document said.
The Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy — one of the flagship plans of Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government — was aimed at fighting high levels of air pollution in the city by cutting vehicular emissions.
The policy sought to achieve this objective by bringing about a paradigm shift in the Capital’s transport sector by introducing two key changes. One, the state government embarked on a major switch from Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-run public buses to electric buses. Of the total 3,700 buses run by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), the Capital now has 800 electric buses. And, the government has committed to buy only electric buses to replace the CNG ones that will be retired from the fleet.
The second major change was encouraging residents to switch to electric vehicles by providing subsidies. The policy has set a target of 25% of all new vehicles registered in Delhi to be electric by 2025.
While welcoming the move, experts have called for a sustained push to increase EV adoption across the country.
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“With the supply of EVs increasing exponentially in the country, we need such aggressive targets from cities and states to increase EV uptake. If the priorities don’t change and there are no bottlenecks, such as at the time of registration or financing, the targets are fairly easily achievable,” said Amit Bhatt, managing director (India), International Council of Clean Transport (ICCT).