To promote the use of electric vehicles in the city of Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday launched a ‘Switch Delhi’ campaign to educate people about the benefits of electric vehicles (EV) and urge them to make a switch.
Mr. Kejriwal said that there was a need to spread awareness about the Delhi government’s electric vehicle policy and the various benefits being offered to those who make the switch.
“Delhi has to turn its EV adoption into a mass movement to form a collective commitment to decrease pollution by purchasing EVs. The campaign aims at informing, encouraging, and motivating each and every person in Delhi to switch from polluting vehicles to zero-emission electric vehicles,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
He also said that all hired government department cars will go electric within the next six months.
To address the vehicular pollution in Delhi, the government notified the Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy in August 2020. The vision is that 25% of all vehicles in Delhi should run on electricity by 2024.
Listing the subsidies being offered for those making the switch, Mr. Keriwal said, “The Delhi government has rolled out the highest incentive on the purchase of EVs among all States. Incentives on EVs range from a maximum of ₹30,000 for two and three-wheelers and up to ₹1,50,000 on the purchase of 4-wheelers. This subsidy is received directly in your bank account within three days of the purchase.”
He added that road tax and registration fees have also been made completely free and tenders have been floated to develop 100 public charging stations across the city.
The Chief Minister appealed to the RWAs (Resident welfare associations) and market associations to play a leading role in the awareness campaign. He also urged corporates and those who have large delivery fleets to transition their entire fleet and set up charging points in their premises.