Govt unveils major e-cycle push; Delhi added 495 charging points since Dec

Delhi is the first Indian state to introduce such a policy and carve out a separate category for electric cycles, delinked from two-, three- and four-wheelers, state transport minister Kailash Gahlot said during a press conference on Thursday

Delhi’s first 10,000 electric cycle buyers will each get purchase incentives of 25% (up to ₹5,500), while the first 1,000 will get an extra incentive of ₹2,000, the state government said on Thursday as it unveiled a major plan to push e-cycles in the national capital, as part of its ongoing efforts to expand the city’s electric vehicle market. The announcement comes even as Delhi added nearly 500 charging points to its arsenal since December last year, taking the count to 825, among the country’s highest.

Delhi sold 3,406 electric vehicles in January this year (8% of total vehicle sales that month), 4,547 (10.7%) in February and 5,996 (12.6%) in March. This number touched 962 in the first six days of April, making up 8.5% of all vehicles sold in this time. (Picture for representation only/HT Archive)

Delhi is the first Indian state to introduce such a policy and carve out a separate category for electric cycles, delinked from two-, three- and four-wheelers, state transport minister Kailash Gahlot said during a press conference on Thursday.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in tweet described the move as another important step in the fight against pollution. “Delhi government’s hugely successful e-vehicle subsidy policy is being enhanced with a subsidy for electric bicycles today. E-cycles will help Delhiites reduce the use of polluting vehicles,” Kejriwal said.

“When we started the EV policy, the initial target was that 25% of all new vehicles registered by 2024 will be electric-powered. About two-and-a-half years ago, this was only around 1 or 2%. This has now reached 12.6% in March 2022,” Gahlot said on Thursday.

The state will also provide purchase incentives of 33% of up to ₹15,000 per vehicle to the first 5,000 e-cargo cycles buyers to support the city’s food delivery and e-commerce executives, he said. In addition to the purchase incentives, all e-cycle and cargo e-cycle buyers will also be eligible for a scrapping incentive of up to ₹3,000 per vehicle for old two-wheelers registered in Delhi.

Gahlot said the city had made several strides in its adoption of electric vehicles since the Delhi EV Policy was flagged off in August 2020.

“Delhi is making its mark as the EV capital of India. Nearly 46,000 EVs have been sold till under the Delhi EV policy till date,” he said.

The number of charging points is jump to 1,325 by the end of June this year, state government officials said, with work underway on 500 new points, to be located in 100 new stations.

The number of charging points is jump to 1,325 by the end of June this year, state government officials said, with work underway on 500 new points, to be located in 100 new stations. These are likely to be opened for public use by June 27.

These 100 new Delhi government EV charging stations will offer the city’s cheapest EV charging rates, said officials.

Electric vehicle owners will be charged under ₹2 per unit for charging their vehicle as compared ₹10-15 per unit in other states.Electric refill costs in Delhi vary between ₹5 and ₹25 per unit, depending on the charging speed, and an electric car usually draws 30-40 units to go from empty to 100%.

Data from the Delhi government showed that the state has 597 charging stations, where the 825 charging points are located. This is a significant jump from November 2021, when the city had only 330 charging points, spread across 167 charging stations.

The city also has 165 battery swapping stations, where used batteries can be replaced with charged units, the data showed.

Jasmine Shah, vice-chairperson of the Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) and chairperson of the state government’s Charging Infrastructure Working Group, said Delhi’s EV policy aims to have a charging station within a 3km radius anywhere in the city.

“Among the 100 new EV charging stations, 71 will be set up at Metro stations. The locations for these charging stations have been chosen very cohesively. Most of the areas we are targeting are under-served. Currently most charging points are placed within the Central Delhi and NDMC [New Delhi Municipal Council] area, with the outer areas lacking the facility in comparison,” said Shah.

“Currently, only a very small section uses e-cycles, but we are bringing them to the mainstream, especially for those involved with deliveries… People associated with food delivery, for instance, won’t have to buy expensive two-wheelers but can work traveling 40-50km by e-cycle only,” said Shah.

Data from the government showed that south Delhi region, with 159 charging stations, leads the pack, followed by east Delhi (121), south-west Delhi (101) and west Delhi (78). North-east Delhi, with 15, has the fewest charging stations in the city.

Experts said the unbridled rise in petrol and diesel prices have pushed people towards electric vehicles.

The price of a litre of petrol in Delhi crossed ₹105 on Wednesday. Diesel, meanwhile, retails for ₹96.67 a litre.

Delhi sold 3,406 electric vehicles in January this year (8% of total vehicle sales that month), 4,547 (10.7%) in February and 5,996 (12.6%) in March. This number touched 962 in the first six days of April, making up 8.5% of all vehicles sold in this time.

“The halfway mark of Delhi’s vision of 25% EVs by 2024 has been achieved. The good news is that in the last three months, two-wheeler sales are consistently contributing to more than 50% of overall EV sales. It shows the trend moving towards greater adoption by individuals as well as fleet owners,” Gahlot said.

Amit Bhatt, managing director (India) of the International Council on Clean Transportation said: “With the growing number of EV charging points, more people will be motivated to buy EVs because more charging options will be available. It is very easy to charge EVs because the vehicles come with a charging kit from the factory, and some companies even install charging points at the buyers’ houses. It is also safe to charge the vehicles at home through the installed charging facilities. The charging kits are used just like mobile chargers to charge the EVs. With the rate of fuel rising and the health benefits of air quality kicking in it is likely that the EVs sales will pick up further.”

Bhatt further added that availability of charging infrastructure is key for the adaption of electric vehicles. “The Delhi government has taken some progressive steps in development of charging infrastructure at variety of location like shopping malls, offices, residential premise which is a welcome steps. However, to get maximum benefit from EV, the same needs to happen in surrounding areas like Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram etc because mobility is Delhi is not restricted to the administrative boundary of the city,” he said.