Registration of electric vehicles picking up pace in Delhi: Officials

Adoption of electric vehicles is picking up pace in Delhi with the count of such vehicles surpassing the total number of registrations of CNG and hybrid-fuel vehicles in the city in the recent months, officials said on Sunday.

In the period of July to September, electric vehicles accounted for seven per cent of the total number of vehicles registered with the Delhi government's transport department, while CNG vehicles accounted for six per cent, official figures showed.

Over 1.5 lakh vehicles were registered in the said period, including 7,869 electric vehicles, 6,857 CNG vehicles, 7,257 vehicles driven on both CNG and petrol, and 93,091 vehicles driven on petrol or diesel.

"We are witnessing good results of our electric vehicle policy and the adoption of such vehicles is gaining pace. We are committed to realising the dream of making Delhi the country's electric vehicle capital, according to the vision of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal," Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said.

The registration of electric vehicles started in Delhi with the city government launching its electric vehicle policy in August 2020. The share of electric vehicles in the total number of vehicle registrations since then has increased from over one per cent to seven per cent now.

Electric rickshaws and two-wheelers form the bulk of the battery-operated vehicles registered but the numbers of electric cars and buses are also steadily rising, a senior officer of the transport department said.

According to official figures, nearly 23,000 electric vehicles were registered in Delhi from August to October, including 5,246 two-wheelers and 10,997 e-rickshaws.

From July to September, 422 electric cars and four electric buses were registered. The numbers grew to 1,415 electric cars and 30 buses in the August-October period.

In addition to focussing on the adoption of electric vehicles in a big way, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has also decided to promote e-autorickshaws and e-buses to replace polluting fuels to make Delhi a clean city, Gahlot said.

Accordingly, it has been decided that the transport department will only procure electric buses now.

A tender floated for 450 CNG buses by the department would be the last one for this type of buses, he added.

The department is in the process of issuing permits for 4,261 e-autorickshaws, with a 33-per cent reservation for women applicants. Nearly 12,000 applications have so far been received for these permits, the officials added.