EV sales fall off a cliff in Delhi amid pollution emergency
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. No incentive, won’t buy. That appears to be the message coming through from dismayed consumers in Delhi after the state government failed to renew road tax and registration benefits on electric cars and two wheelers this September.
Result: an unprecedented fall in sales of the eco-friendly vehicles from September to November, even as pollution levels have hit record levels in the capital in recent days. Data from the government’s Vahan dashboard showed that registration of electric four-wheelers in Delhi fell 79% to just 77 units in September compared to 312 EVs in August. October saw sales of 148 units of electric cars, which then crashed to just 56 units in November thus far.
Significantly, the national capital is one of the three largest markets for electric cars in India and the largest for electric taxis. The decline is especially pronounced in the case of electric cabs, sops for which were taken away from the PM e-DRIVE scheme, which used to offer subsidies on the purchase of electric cars for commercial use. PM e-DRIVE came into effect on 1 October, replacing the FAME-II policy.
The double whammy arising from a lack of both state and central government support has led to fleet buyers pausing sales in Delhi, which has 8,000 registered electric cabs. Also read | Bajaj's aggressive push threatens Ola's EV dominance as share slips below 30Percent As pollution levels hit 40-year peak levels in Delhi, the capital has lost its early advantage as a top EV market thanks to a forward-looking EV policy formulated in 2019. Data shows neighbouring cities like Noida and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh and Gurugram and Faridabad in Haryana have overtaken Delhi, as buyers hunt for more favourable
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