EVs help, but Delhi's air pollution problem needs more than adoption

The Delhi government’s decision to roll out a revamped electric-vehicle (EV) policy next year underlines both the progress made in clean mobility and the structural limits of relying on EV adoption alone to tackle air pollution. The city’s first EV policy, notified in 2020, set an ambitious target: 25 per cent of all new vehicle registrations to be electric by 2024. However, that goal was not met. While reports suggest that the EV uptake in the city has crossed 12 per cent, it has not translated into perceptible improvements in Delhi’s winter air quality. This points to challenges in design and implementation. The upcoming EV policy seeks to bridge some of these gaps by linking financial incentives with scrapping old vehicles, expanding neighbourhood-level charging infrastructure, and continuing road tax and registration fee waivers. Subsidies aimed at narrowing the price gap between petrol-diesel vehicles and electric alternatives, along with battery-swapping options, are expected to form the core of the new framework. This marks a shift from a narrow purchase-subsidy approach to a more systemic intervention.

 

Delhi’s experience so far suggests that incentives alone cannot deliver cleaner air. They must be aligned with outcomes on pollution. EV adoption has been concentrated in two- and three-wheelers, the segments that already have lower per-vehicle emission intensity. In fact, the data placed before the Supreme Court by the Commission for Air Quality Management suggests that around 37 per cent of vehicles in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) fleet run on BS-III or older engines. As a result, EVs were added to the transport system without a commensurate exit of the dirtiest vehicles. This failure to retire old vehicles is particularly stark. The issue was brought into sharp relief recently when the Supreme Court lifted the ban it had imposed on the Delhi government for failing to act decisively against end-of-life vehicles. The court clarified that only vehicles with BS-IV-compliant engines and above would be exempt from action, removing the grey area created by its earlier order on 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles. The court’s clarification followed evidence that BS-II and -III vehicles, which typically fall into these age categories, contribute disproportionately to Delhi’s winter smog. Without credible and sustained enforcement on scrapping, the pollution benefits of EV adoption will remain marginal.

 

It is equally important to recognise that Delhi is part of a shared air basin across the NCR. Policies for just Delhi can deliver limited gains. In this context, coordination with neighbouring states is critical. Uttar Pradesh, for instance, has pursued a more aggressive policy on EVs and hybrids, combining tax exemptions, direct-purchase incentives, and subsidies for charging infrastructure. This has driven both adoption and the expansion of charging networks, creating positive spillovers for the wider NCR. Delhi’s policy will be more effective if aligned with such regional efforts rather than operating as a standalone intervention. For the revamped EV policy to deliver results, subsidy design will be the key. Incentives must be targeted, time-bound, and explicitly linked to pollution reduction. Priority should be given to high-mileage commercial fleets, public transport, and the replacement of old diesel vehicles, where emission reduction per rupee spent is the highest. Also stronger disincentives for vehicles running on the internal combustion engine, through registration fees, congestion pricing, or a stricter enforcement of end-of-life norms are essential to ensure that clean vehicles replace, rather than merely supplement, dirty ones.