In the last two months, Delhi saw more electric vehicles (EV) being registered in the city than CNG vehicles. The Delhi government launched its EV policy on August 7 last year and as per a ToI report, it saw the registration of 739 EVs that month. This year in August, there were 2603 electric vehicles registered in the national capital.
The adoption of EV vehicles were on the rise since the launch of the policy but the second-wave of Covid-19 took its toll on vehicle registrations as it dipped in the months of April and May. It only came to the fore in July this year. Comparing the registrations with that of CNG-run vehicles in the last two months, there were 2413 EVs registered in July as opposed to 1,966 CNG run-vehicles. In August, the number for CNG -run vehicles was 2,357 as opposed to 2603 EVs.
The number of EVs being registered have seen an upward trajectory in Delhi, thanks to the incentives and subsidies provided by the state government via its EV policy. The incentive on electric cars is as high as ₹1,50,000, which is ₹10,000 per kWh of the battery capacity.
For a 2kWh two-wheeler EV, riders can get up to ₹30,000 incentive along with the exemption of road tax and registration fees. As per the report, the Delhi government also wants to evolve the charging infrastructure across the city for easier adoption of EVs. Currently, most of the EVs registered are e-rickshaws, followed by electric two-wheelers.
The Delhi government is looking to add about 5,000 electric buses to its fleet in the next five years. To implement this big change in the city, it is in talks with the central government on easing the restrictions on the number of e-buses that can be inducted via the FAME II policy of the Centre.
Despite the increase of EVs, the CNG-petrol hybrid cars still have a significantly higher share of newly registered vehicles in the capital. But with Delhi’s push towards a greener alternative, we could see it change in the coming years.
Source: businessinsider.in
