Delhi’s Electric vehicle policy was launched last year in August as a long time measure against the severe pollution which the national capital suffers. It has been almost a year since then and here is what the State government has managed to achieve towards EVs by now, through its Switch Delhi campaign.
When it comes to implementing productive policies, the Delhi government has aced the criteria over the past few years. The capital state has been a very productive state when it comes to cooperating with the state government. There is a massive revolution surrounding EVs globally as well as in the nation. Steps are taken to curb conventional vehicles and governments are encouraging to switch to eco-friendly vehicles.
Switch Delhi in-brief –
The city of New Delhi seems to emerge as India’s EV hub as Delhi’s “aam aadmi” have already started to register the EVs. All credits to the schemes put forward by the government under the Electric vehicles policy. The various schemes include
- Monetary Incentives up to three lakh, inclusions are the 1.5 lakh subsidy followed exemption from paying road taxes.
- Savings by switching to EV as the cost of maintaining an EV will be much less than maintaining a fuel run vehicle.
- More than 100 charge stations are being set for testing and a huge amount of charge stations set up has already been signed.
Since the launch of Delhi’s Electric policy in August 2020, EVs have covered nearly 2 crore km on the delhi road. Around 456 four-wheeler Vehicles have already been registered so far and nearly 6000 three-wheeler EVs have registered in Delhi.
The transport department also said, “The third week of the Delhi Government’s Switch Delhi electric vehicle campaign received overwhelming support from Delhiites,”
“This is the highest subsidy in India and makes the total cost of ownership of an electric car in Delhi the same as a diesel car. Subsidies provided on electric cars under the EV policy reduce the total cost of electric cars by up to 30 percent”
– Transport Minister, Kailash Gahlot
The policy implementation is expected to take an affirmative turn as the people of Delhi have already started to switch onto Electric vehicles readily and in “large numbers”, and even more are being registered on a per-day basis.
The opinion of consumer –
Amit Arya, owner of an electric vehicle said,
“All thanks to the Delhi government’s support, we are getting a much more expensive vehicle at an affordable price. I encourage people to buy EVs. An overnight charging lasts us 7-10 days.”
Setting example –
Apart from installing more than 100 EV charging stations to develop the infrastructure, Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister stated that they want to set the example by action. Hence, all the departments under the state government will use only EVs in the next 6 months.
The AAP government wants to boost the confidence of the public towards the electric shift which will play a major role in the battle against pollution and climate change. The Chief Minister of Delhi, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal said –
This will go a long way in curbing pollution in Delhi.
Delhi is fast becoming a modern city. Every Indian is proud of Delhi https://t.co/8M0UZeLuCf
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 25, 2021
Conclusion –
It is encouraging to see how states like Delhi are moving towards a green India which is accompanied by advanced technology. While its too early to say how fast and what the Switch Delhi will achieve in the journey towards EVs. But it is clear that the citizens of Delhi will see electric vehicles more often on their roads in the near future. A change for the better, indeed!
