In a significant step, the Delhi government has decided to include and incentivise e-cycles under its Electric Vehicle (EV) policy. This will include passenger and cargo e-cycles with a speed of less than 25 km/hour.
“A purchase incentive of 25% of MRP up to Rs 5,500 will be provided to the first 10,000 buyers. An additional incentive of Rs 2,000 to the first 1,000 individual e-cycle owners will be provided with an eye on creating the much-needed demand for e-cycles. Similarly, the government will provide a purchase incentive of 33% of MRP upto Rs 15,000 per vehicle to the first 5,000 e-cargo cycles buyers to support food delivery and e-commerce drivers,” the government said in a statement.
Buyers of e-cycles and cargo e-cycles will also be eligible for a “Scrapping Incentive” of up to Rs 3,000 per vehicle, for “scrapping and deregistering old ICE two-wheelers registered in Delhi”.
Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot and Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) vice-chairperson Jasmine Shah held a press conference Thursday to announce the decision.
Gahlot said, “Under the leadership of CM Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi is making its mark as ‘EV Capital of India’. Nearly 46,000 EVs have been sold till date under the EV policy. The city also achieved the highest EV sale contribution of 12.6% of March 2022 vehicle sales.”
“The halfway mark of Delhi’s vision of 25% EV by 2024 has been achieved. The good news is, in the last three months, two-wheelers’ sales are consistently contributing to more than 50% of the total EV sales. It shows the trend moving towards more adoption by both individuals and fleet owners,” said Gahlot. An e-cycle can travel up to 45 km on a single charge, he said. Shah said the cabinet’s decision to link the e-cycle segment with EV policy was a “big decision”. He said, “…With this decision of the Delhi government … Delhi will become the first state to promote e-cycle.”
Source: indianexpress.com
