The Delhi EV policy has been under discussion for more than 1 year, with a draft released in late 2019 for comments. The policy was finalized and released in early August 2020. It aims to heavily promote EVs in Delhi mainly for their pollution reduction benefits – various studies show that a large part of Delhi’s air pollution is due to vehicle emissions. While this is a welcome move to reduce air pollution, there are other benefits of EVs which the policy seems to ignore, including fuel savings, monetary savings for vehicle owners, lower road noise, and reduced dependence on imported petrol.
Because of all these benefits of EVs, we believe the policy is very beneficial, and if implemented well, could make Delhi a leader in EV adoption in India. The policy document is long, but there are two main focus areas which will give direct benefits and opportunities to EV buyers and owners:
1) Financial Incentives, and
2) Establishment of a Network of Charging Stations.
This article will summarize how this policy will promote EV Charging Stations. We wrote another popular article last week on the Financial Incentives – It can be found here. The full EV Policy can be found on the Delhi Dept. of Transportation website, for those interested in a full reading: https://transport.delhi.gov.in/sites/default/files/All-PDF/Delhi_Electric_Vehicles_Policy_2020.pdf
A huge number of EV Charging Stations are essential for widespread adoption of EVs. According to the International Council on Clean Transportation, a minimum ratio of 1 public charging point for every 10 to 15 EVs is needed to enable higher EV adoption, based on observed adoption rates in Europe and China. In August 2019, only 55 charging stations, with 3 to 4 charging points each were installed in Delhi by EESL. This makes a total of about 200 charging points, which can support adoption of only 2,000 to 3,000 EVs, if we use the ratio observed in Europe. This brings us to the first part of this article.
Delhi EV Targets - EV Charging Station Requirement
The policy targets that EV will make up a 25% share of all new vehicle registrations in Delhi by 2024. In 2019, about 5 lakh new vehicles were registered, of which about 1.5 lakh were 4-wheeler cars. 25% of these 1.5 lakh cars is about 40,000 EVs, which will need about 3,000 new public EV charging points using the above discussed ratio.
Thus, by working backwards from the target, we find that about 3,000 new public charging points will be required every year in Delhi for the next 4 years, to support the targeted EV adoption. Apart from these public charging stations, many more private charging stations will be needed at homes, offices, malls, etc. Clearly the installation and operation of EV charging stations is a huge opportunity in Delhi.
The policy also plans some regulations and incentives to encourage this fast deployment of charging stations:
a) Residential building laws:
It be made mandatory to make at least 20% of all parking spaces in new homes and buildings “EV ready”, through changes in building by-laws. This means that 1 in 5 parking spaces in all new building projects will have the electrical cabling and enough space in the parking areas to fit EV chargers there in the future. The developer will also have to ensure that the building’s power connection is capable of supporting the load of all those EV chargers. This is a welcome step, as it is usually more expensive to upgrade the building’s connection, fit the cabling and install the EV chargers in pre-existing apartment parking.
There are many under-construction buildings in Delhi right now. Unfortunately, this rule will not apply to them, as new by-laws normally only apply at the building permit stage, before construction starts. Thus, it will take at least 2 to 3 years to see new buildings that incorporate this new law.
This is where companies like Xobolt come in. Xobolt has the expertise to install EV chargers and manage the new cabling at any existing building, to make it EV-friendly. Contact us to know more about our residential and commercial EV Charging solutions.
b) Incentives for Residential EV chargers:
The Delhi EV policy also provides incentives to encourage installation of EV chargers in existing residential buildings. Incentive of up to Rs. 6,000/- per charging connection point installed will be provided by the government. For basic Bharat AC-001 charging equipment, which has 3 connection points, this could reduce the overall installation cost by 25% for a typical installation which costs Rs. 75,000/-.
Home owners and housing societies can benefits from this incentive, while also charging EV owners a fee for use of the charging stations. In this way, the charging station can pay for itself within 2 to 3 years. Contact us to know more about the benefits of having a charging station at your building, and for a detailed assessment of your parking spaces.
c) Public EV Charging Stations:
The policy also sets the roadmap for the installation of a network of public EV charging stations in Delhi, such that every place in Delhi is within 3 km of an EV charger. The Delhi government will identify suitable locations at public parkings and other places which will be leased at concessional rates to private companies to set EV charging facilities there.
d) Payment Modes:
It will be mandatory to provide multiple modes of payment for EV charging at public EV charging stations, including payment through Delhi’s common mobility card system – this means that EV owners will be able to use Delhi metro cards or DTC bus cards to pay for EV charging. This is a welcome move that would add a lot of convenience to the EV charging system.
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