Delhi EV Policy | Proposed Ambitious Plan to Switch to Electric Vehicles

In today’s world, electric vehicles are booming. It’s estimated that electric cars will rise by 28% by 2030 and 58% by 2050. Electric vehicles cut down maintenance costs and reduce pollution thereby improving the quality of air. Having this in mind, the Delhi government launched the Delhi Electric Car Coverage in August 2020 to improve the air quality. Delhi EV policy also mentioned its aim of 25% of new electric automobile registrations by the end of 2023.

Chief Minister of Delhi, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, explained the role of EVs in reducing pollution. However, electric vehicles can only sustain with proper maintenance and infrastructure of charging points.

So, here comes the Delhi government with the ambitious development plans for infrastructure required for electric vehicles. The government has decided to go with multiple charging stations for electric vehicles in 100 locations.

Here, we’ll discuss electric vehicles, their policies, charging infrastructure, and much more.

Let’s dive in.

Objectives of Delhi EV Policy

The primary objective of Delhi’s EV policy is to improve air quality. It’s no surprise that Delhi has poor air quality that impacts the public’s physical and mental health. The major factor contributing to this pollution is the use of ICE vehicles and the government would like to bring down these emissions into the air.

This is possible by adopting electric vehicles, where the Delhi government aims to contribute about 25% of the new electric vehicle registrations by 2023. The second reason for the EV adoptions in Delhi is to create innumerable job opportunities and increase employment.

To move from conventional vehicles to electric vehicles, Delhi needs a supporting infrastructure such as Public and private charging stations. Let’s discuss it here.

Infrastructure Needed to support Delhi’s Ambitious EV Plans

In August 2020, the Delhi government announced its new electric vehicle policy. On account of the new policy, the Chief Minister of Delhi, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, said that electric vehicles’ adoption is the initial step to reduce pollution levels.

The policy includes the infrastructure creation for electric vehicles. The Delhi government has a strict action plan of developing various charging points across several areas of the capital.

Recently, Satyendra Jain, Delhi’s Power Minister, talked about the phase-1 plans. In the first phase, the government plans to install over 500 charging points in 100 locations across Delhi.

The new EV policy states that the new constructions must allow at least 20% of electric vehicle chargers in the parking spaces, with 5% of the entire area to be held aside for the EV chargers.

Plans for Delhi EV charging stations

To build electric vehicle charging infrastructure, the Delhi government has come up with several foundational plans. These include the following.

• The phase-1 of the electric vehicle’s plan includes installing 1,100 charging stations and battery swapping stations in 100 locations across the capital.
• Each charging station will have a capacity of charging five cars. The majority of the charging stations would be installed on the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation(DMRC) owned land.
• These charging points will be installed at a distance of 3 km from one another with a minimal output of 3.3KW.
• As discussed earlier, the new constructions should allow 20% of the parking areas and 5% of parking spots offering over 100 parking spaces. This is expected to finish by the end of December 2021.

To reach the goal as soon as possible, the municipal corporations are also working on the EV infrastructure improvements in multiple locations of Delhi.

Delhi’s EV Policy | Delhi plans to adopt electric vehicles and aims to contribute about 25% of new electric vehicle registrations by 2023

Private & Public Charging infrastructure.

It’s well-known that the charging infrastructure plays a crucial role in electric vehicles. So, the Delhi government is looking for the improvement of charging infrastructure. For this, it has decided to install both private and public charging points. This enables the easier availability of charging points anywhere and at any time.

• Private charging points infrastructure

It’s estimated that electric vehicle users will use home and workplace charging stations for most primary charging needs. Having this in mind, the Delhi government prepared few policies that facilitate private charging points.

• At least 20% of the parking area should be allotted for electric vehicles ECS(Equivalent Car Spaces) with a parking space for over ten equivalent car spaces.
• The residential buildings, colonies, group housing societies, and other building areas maintained by the Residents Welfare Associations should incorporate 100% of “EV ready” ECS in over ten equivalent car spaces.
• All residential buildings, group housings, and colonies with parking of over 10 ECS should install one EV AC charger for each three equivalent car spaces.

These are a few pointers made by the Delhi government under private charging points infrastructure. Similarly, the government made few policies fot the public charging station infrastructure.

• Public charging points infrastructure

Unlike private charging points, the public charging points will be located at a distance of 3 km from one another. Here’re a few steps followed by the Delhi government to set up a public charging points network.

• To set up public charging points, initially, the city would be divided into 11 travel districts. Then, Energy Operators(EOs) will be welcomed to bid on each travel district’s charging points.
• The transport department, GNCTD will specify the charging infrastructure requirements based on the rules and regulations of the Government of India.
• Based on the lowest bidding, GNCTD will select an EO for each travel district charging point.

After selecting a bidder, the GNCTD will offer a capital subsidy covering all the installation expenses in a particular location. Moreover, the GNCTD plans to complete the project within two years.

This is how the private and public charging points are going to be installed in specific locations. Next comes the question- Is there any alternative way to charge? The simple answer to it is yes and that’s using Battery swapping.

Amenities at a Charging Bay (Public Charging Station)

These are the public charging points and there are no restrictions for the entry of various automobiles. Unlike private charging points, the charging suppliers won’t have the right to disallow the automobiles for charging.

At public charging stations, the electric vehicles can charge using two charging systems- Gradual and Quick. The gradual charges will have a minimal output energy of 3.3 KW while the quick charging system will offer output energy of 15 KW-22 KW per charging level.

Electric vehicles can avail either of them. However, the two-wheelers with the least battery capacity can go for gradual charging systems rather than the quick charging system. The gradual charger generally takes 8 hours while the quick charger takes anywhere between 15 minutes to an hour.

Apart from this, there are even battery swapping systems(We’ll discuss it in detail in an upcoming section). The battery swapping system helps in case of emergency battery supply for automobiles. The swapping process hardly takes a couple of minutes to charge an electric vehicle fully.

Like public fuel stations, the public charging stations will have a tower at the entrance displaying charging rates and configurations.

Alternative ways of charging

There’s a perfect alternative for charging electric vehicles other than charging stations. But how?

Battery swapping is the best alternative that electric vehicle owners can utilize in emergency cases. In quick energy for electric vehicles, the present battery can be fully charged or swapped with other available battery.

Moreover, the battery swapping takes hardly two minutes. So, it’s an easier, faster, and more effective way to charge electric vehicles’ batteries. To make battery swapping accessible to the users at the charging stations, the stations should partner with the manufacturers.

In order to exchange electric vehicle batteries, battery swapping stations are also planned to be installed in various city locations.

Similar to the fuel station tower at the entry point, the battery swapping stations will have a tower display at the entrance. The tower display will show the charging station rates and their configuration.

Cost of charging in Delhi EV Policy

The government has determined the unit and tariff for the EV charging systems for 2019-2020. The unit and tax for electric vehicles are at Rs. 4.5/Kwh and Rs. 4, respectively.

The service cost excludes the electrical energy tariff, penalty on time-based, GST. Hence, the service cost is purely the cost of charging EVs at public charging stations.

Incentive Provisions offered in Delhi EV Policy & Plans for Different Segments

The GNCTD aims to adopt electric vehicles according to the Delhi EV policy in 2020. The policy focuses on the various segments to adopt a large number of electric vehicles.

The multiple segments include electric cars, electric two-wheelers, electric auto-rickshaws, electric buses, and electric goods carriers.

In the upcoming section, we’ll discuss the different provisions for electric vehicle segments. Scroll down.

• Two-wheeler electric vehicles

The government offers incentives for the two-wheelers based on the battery capacity. The higher battery capacity electric vehicles are eligible to avail higher incentives than the lower battery capacity electric vehicles.

For example, the owner who purchased a battery capacity of Rs. 5000 per kWh enjoys an incentive of Rs. 30,000 per electric vehicle.

Also, the owner is eligible for incentives for scrapping and de-registering old model conventional or Internal Combustion Engine vehicles that are registered in Delhi.

• E-Rickshaws or E-Carts

Only the individuals with valid driving licenses and PSV badge are eligible for e-auto permits. Like other vehicles, the government offers incentive of Rs. 30,000 per electric vehicle to the registered electric auto, electric rickshaw, or electric cart owners.

The incentives are applicable for all the e-rickshaws and e-carts, including swappable models and batteries with lead-acid. Besides Rs. 30,000 incentives, the owners can avail loans at 5% interest subvention from Delhi Finance Corporation.

• Electric cars

For cars, the registered owners can avail an incentive of Rs. 10,000 per kWh battery capacity. The incentive is capped at Rs. 1.5 lakh per electric vehicle.

The incentives are offered only for the first 1,000 Delhi registered e-cars.

• Electric Buses

Apart from the electric two-wheelers, cars, and auto-rickshaws, the Delhi government plans for public transportation transition by the end of 2022.

The government manufactured 1,000 pure electric buses in 2020 and is determined to introduce at least 50% of the electric bus lines into the market.

• Goods Carrier

The Delhi government announced a purchase incentive for light commercial vehicles that are used as goods carriers. For the first 10,000 e-carrier registrations, a purchase incentive of Rs. 30,000 is assured.

Also, there’s a 5% interest subvention on loans from Delhi Finance Corporation.

Additional Provisions and Policies

The Delhi government announced that the road tax and registration fees are waived off for electric vehicle owners during the entire policy period.

Also, in case no battery is sold along with the vehicle, a 50% purchase incentive is granted to the owner, and the remaining 50% is offered to the energy operators. Usually, the energy operators use the incentive for paying the deposit cost for swappable batteries at the charging stations.

The complete policy is implemented by the Delhi Transport Department along with the dedicated electric vehicle cell and State Electric Vehicle Board. All these government cells are tied together to implement the policy effectively.

Takeaways

This is all about Delhi’s robust plan to switch to electric vehicles. Earlier, we’ve discussed several EV policies, charging stations, projects, and their amenities in detail.

In a nutshell, Delhi’s EV policy aims effectively to reduce pollution and restore healthier nature with the adoption of EVs. So, let’s see what happens next?

Until then, stay tuned!