Delhi’s transport minister Kailash Gahlot has already said that the state government will only buy electric buses to be deployed in Delhi
The government of Delhi is working on an interest subvention scheme, which once deployed, will help commercial fleet owners in sourcing electric vehicles. Once developed, the scheme will be offered by the Delhi Finance Corporation (DFC). The minister, in a conversation with a leading media house, noted that a lot of fleet owners are unable to switch to electric vehicles owing to lack of financing.
Gahlot has also urged fleet owners to upgrade at least half of their fleet of vehicles to electric ones by 2023. “By switching to electric vehicle, the fleet owners would not only take a step towards ensuring the better air quality in the city but can save up to Rs 22,000 annually by switching to electric fleets,” Gahlot was quoted by PTI.
The Delhi government has been playing a proactive role when it comes to increasing EV adoption in the state. Not only has the government different set of incentives for EV adopters but it has also become the first region in the country to ban incentives on EV models not standing up to the promises they make.
Following negative feedback from the people who had bought Tata Nexon EV, the Delhi government, had announced that no incentives will be offered on the same car model. Howver, the Delhi High Court has stayed the Arvind Kejriwal government’s decision to remove electric version of the Tata Nexon car from the list of electric cars that can be covered under the subsidy.
“The Delhi government has decided to suspend subsidy on a EV car model, pending final report of a Committee, due to complaints by multiple users of sub-standard range performance,” Gahlot had tweeted earlier.
Gahlot has also recently said that the state government will only buy electric buses to be deployed in Delhi. The government is planning to introduce 1000 electric buses in the capital of India by the end of year 2021.
“Delhi is the only state where the entire public transport is on CNG. We have already made an announcement that we will buy only electric buses for public transport henceforth. Towards the year-end we are looking at almost 900-1000 electric buses on Delhi roads,” Gahlot had said.
The government of Delhi, as per a report in the emobility, has already finalised vendors for procuring 300 electric buses. The report adds that the government is looking to buy some 1,300 low floor electric buses. A tender for procuring another 575 electric buses has also been floated by the Delhi government under the cluster model.
