The Delhi government has extended its existing electric vehicle policy until December 31 of this year, as announced by Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot.
Transport Minister confirmed that the Cabinet has given its approval to extend the current Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy until December 31, 2023, or until the notification of the forthcoming Delhi EV Policy 2.0, whichever occurs earlier. Importantly, all existing incentives, including subsidies, will remain in place for the time being. He shared this information on his X account.
Furthermore, Gahlot revealed that the upcoming Electric Vehicles Policy 2.0 is in its final stages of development and will be officially notified after receiving the necessary approvals. This updated policy is expected to place a particular focus on encouraging the retrofitting of vehicles, addressing the significant costs associated with this conversion process.
People want to convert their IC (internal combustion) engine vehicles into electric ones. However, this conversion process can be quite expensive. For instance, the conversion of a standard Gypsy vehicle can cost approximately Rs 5-6 lakh, which is considered to be on the higher end in terms of expenses.
The Delhi Electric Vehicles Policy 2020 had originally been set to expire on August 8 of this year. The policy, initially introduced in August 2020, aimed to increase the proportion of electric vehicles on Delhi’s roads to 25% by the year 2024.