Delhi govt to change its fleet of cars to electric vehicles in 6 months: CM

CM Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday launched a new campaign, Switch Delhi, to spread awareness about the subsidies provided by the city administration on EVs

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday announced that the Delhi government will change its fleet of hired cars to electric vehicles (EVs) within the next six months and launched a new campaign -- Switch Delhi -- to spread awareness about the subsidies provided by the city administration on EVs.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. (File photo)

Addressing a digital press conference, Kejriwal said vehicles are one of the main contributors of air pollution in the national Capital. The Delhi EV policy, announced in August last year, envisages that 25% of all new vehicle registrations should be Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) by 2024.

“We have to make EVs a jan andolan (mass movement) now. So, we are launching the Switch Delhi campaign today to create awareness about EVs. The idea is to convince people to switch from their current vehicles to EVs,which have zero emissions. I also urge the youth, who are looking to buy their first car or bike, to go for an EV as the Delhi government is giving huge subsidies and there is no road tax or registration charges,” Kejriwal said.

A senior transport official said for the installation of EV charging stations, a centralised tendering system will be adopted to hire an energy operator to run, maintain and upgrade charging stations. “Land-owning agencies will be required to provide land for the installation of public EV charging stations,” the official said.

Kejriwal urged companies having a large fleet of vehicles to shift to EVs. “I request resident welfare associations (RWAs), market associations and delivery fleets to participate in the campaign to promote the use of EVs and switch to such vehicles. The Switch Delhi campaign also seeks to convince companies, malls, cinema halls, restaurants and commercial shopping complexes to get charging stations installed in their parking spaces,” he said.

Kejriwal said around 6,000 EVs have been bought in Delhi ever since the city’s EV policy was announce in August 2020. “Almost all of the applicants have received subsidies from the government. The Delhi government credits the subsidy amount directly into the bank accounts of a new EV purchaser within three days,” he said.

The policy gives a subsidy of ₹10,000 per kWh to the first 1,000 e-cars or electric four wheelers, with a capping of ₹150,000 per vehicle. A subsidy of ₹5,000 per kWh of the battery capacity up to ₹30,000 is also to be given on the purchase of each electric two-wheeler, auto-rickshaw, rickshaw and freight vehicle. To push people to shift to EVs, the policy also has a “scrapping incentive” for those who make the switch.

On August 7 last year, Kejriwal had announced the Delhi EV Policy 2020, with a focus to increase the adoption of electric vehicles in the city by incentivising the purchase and use of the EVs. The policy aims to register 500,000 electric vehicles in the city by 2024.