For the fourth consecutive year, New Delhi has just been ranked as the most polluted capital in the world for fine particles. Nearly a third of this pollution comes from transport. To reduce it, the local government has therefore launched an aggressive policy two years ago aimed at encouraging residents to use electric vehicles. And that effort is starting to pay off.
For three months, 10% of new vehicles registered in the Indian capital have been electric. The fastest transition comes from two-wheelers. Electric scooters have indeed become particularly attractive to the thousands of meal delivery people who race down the avenues of New Delhi every day. Rony Kumar is about to deliver a burger on his scooter with a green license plate: “It’s much cheaper than gas-powered motorcycles.”
“I rent this scooter for 15 euros a week, and I charge my two batteries at home for 40 cents a day. My colleagues spend 70 euros a month just for their petrol. In addition, my scooter does no noise, no smoke, it’s great.”
Rony Kumar, delivery man in New Delhiat franceinfo
The regional government’s incentive policy has facilitated this transition: subsidy for the purchase of vehicles, road tax exemptions, scrapping bonus… These measures have, for example, helped companies to invest in these electric scooters, and rent them cheaper. The electric is even more attractive since the war in Ukraine, the Russian invasion having increased the price of gasoline at the pump by 10% in one month in New Delhi. The government now wants half of new delivery motorcycles to be electric within a year.
But challenges remain. The transition is much slower for electric cars. These models are expensive and their use is limited because as soon as you leave the Indian capital, there are hardly any charging stations. Concerns are also growing about the safety of electric scooters: many have caught fire spontaneously in recent weeks, a sign that the models used in India are not yet completely reliable.
Finally, the real challenge remains the number: New Delhi has more than 12 million vehicles, and even if the trend is encouraging, electric vehicles still represent only 1% of all those circulating in the megalopolis.