NEW DELHI: The national capital, it seems, is on a firm path to becoming the electric vehicle (EV) capital of the country too. Less than two years since the Delhi government launched its ambitious EV policy, the sale of EVs is on a rise and, in the last two months, their share in total vehicles sold has gone up by nearly five percentage points.
The share of EVs in the total number of vehicles registered in Delhi was a nominal 1.2% at the time the Delhi government launched its policy in August 2020. January 2022 saw 3,405 EVs getting registered, which was more than 8% of the total vehicle registrations that month. The number of EVs sold increased to 4,545 in February, which was 10.6% of total vehicles sold, and to 5,992 EVs in March — 12.6% of all vehicles registered last month.
Not only has the number of EVs getting registered been going up, the first quarter of 2022 has seen more of these vehicles being sold in Delhi than purely CNG-run ones. In 2020, the number of purely CNG-run vehicles – 6,368 – was higher than EVs registered – 5,814. The next year, the number of CNG-run vehicles registered – 7,684 – was even higher than 2020 at 5,244 EVs.
This year, however, the difference is massive with 8,859 CNG-run vehicles being registered compared with the total EVs registered. While the number of the former is higher if petrol/CNG vehicles are included, March has seen a major shift. Even the combined number of pure CNG (3,315) and Petrol/CNG (2,536) registered in March – 5,851 – is slightly lower than the 5,992 EVs registered.
The first quarter of 2022 has seen a total 13,942 EVs getting registered, which means that, on average, almost 155 EVs are getting registered every day in Delhi currently. Compare this with the 58.3 EVs sold per day between January 1 and March 31 last year and nearly 64 EVs sold a day during the same period in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic was yet to make a dent in vehicle sales.
While the bulk of EVs sold in Delhi used to be e-rickshaws, and few e-carts, of late the number of electric two-wheelers as well as electric four-wheelers has been witnessing a spike.
Of the 13,942 EVs registered in the first three months of 2022, 4,702 were e-rickshaws and e-carts, which is 33.7% of all EVs sold during this period.
