Delhi Government presents roadmap for electrifying final mile deliveries at third Delhi EV Forum
DDC Delhi proposes roadmap for achieving 100% electrification of last mile delivery service fleets by 2030
DDC Delhi and RMI India co-host the third edition of Delhi EV Forum to continue the constructive dialogue between the government and various stakeholders of the EV ecosystem
The Delhi EV Forum stands testament to the fact that the dream of Delhi’s EV journey has been a shared dream: Jasmine Shah, Vice Chairperson, DDC Delhi
The Delhi Government has given the right incentives to bring together an entire Electric Vehicle ecosystem. It is now the turn of RWAs, commercial establishment owners and citizens to play their crucial roles in creating awareness and adding more EV charging infrastructure: Kailash Gahlot, Delhi Transport Minister
The roadmap, developed in partnership with RMI India, will enable Delhi’s sure-footed embark upon the path of accelerating adoption of EVs for delivery fleets: Jasmine Shah, Vice Chairperson, DDC Delhi
Today we are at the cusp of creating history. The last one and a half years can inspire a lot of hope — we can dream of doing things that have never been done before in India or even in other parts of the world: Jasmine Shah, Vice-Chairperson, DDC Delhi
We are committed to address the challenge of air pollution in Delhi and have committed to accelerate to the next phase where we focus on electrifying public transport in the next 1.5 years: Ashish Kundra, Principal Secretary-cum-Commissioner (Transport)
Platforms like the Delhi EV Forum, Delhi Urban Mobility Lab, Deliver Electric Delhi pilot, and campaigns like Switch Delhi have ensured that every stakeholder gets an opportunity to participate in Delhi’s EV journey: Akshima Ghate, Managing Director, RMI India
NEW DELHI
The Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) of Delhi, in collaboration with RMI India, co-hosted the third Delhi Electric Vehicle (EV) Forum today to facilitate constructive dialogue and discussions between the government and various stakeholders of the EV ecosystem. A roadmap for achieving 100% electrification of last mile delivery service fleets in Delhi by 2030 was also proposed by DDC Delhi, in partnership with RMI and RMI India, along with insights from the implementation of the Deliver Electric Delhi pilot project initiated in June 2019.
The Delhi EV Forum is a platform hosted by DDC Delhi, Delhi Government’s premier thinktank, for continuous engagement and consultation with a broad set of stakeholders so that their insights and suggestions, through a series of quarterly meetings, can be included in informing the implementation of the Delhi EV Policy.
More than 130 participants attended the discussion from amongst Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), charging infrastructure manufacturers and operators, mall associations, market associations, Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs), fleet aggregators, start-ups, academia and civil society. The forum saw participation from Shri Kailash Gahlot, Delhi Transport Minister, Shri Jasmine Shah, Vice Chairperson, DDC Delhi, and senior government officials of the Delhi Transport Department such as Shri Ashish Kundra, Principal Secretary-cum-Commissioner (Transport).
The Delhi EV Forum kickstarted with a policy implementation overview by Shri Ashish Kundra. He said, “Delhi has firmly embarked on this incredible journey of electric mobility, so much so that the share of EVs in total vehicle sales was over 12% for the past quarter. We are committed to address the challenge of air pollution in Delhi and have committed to accelerate to the next phase where we focus on electrifying public transport in the next 1.5 years.”
The inaugural session also saw the release of a new report by DDC Delhi, RMI and RMI India. The report titled ‘Roadmap for 100% Delivery Electrification in Delhi: Unlocking Insights from the Deliver Electric Delhi Pilot’ provides insights from the implementation of the ‘Deliver Electric Delhi’ pilot project — initiated by DDC, RMI, and RMI India in June 2019 — and provides a roadmap that can lead to 100% electrification of last mile delivery service fleets in Delhi by 2030.
Shri Jasmine Shah, Vice Chairperson, DDC Delhi said, “The roadmap, developed in partnership with RMI India, will enable Delhi’s sure-footed embark on the path of accelerating adoption of EVs for delivery fleets. The ‘Delivery Electric Delhi’ pilot operationalised collaborative policy implementation through continuous engagement with the entire EV community, who are committed to deploying electric vehicles at scale in Delhi.”
In his keynote address, Delhi Transport Minister Shri Kailash Gahlot said, “Under the leadership of Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal, we are fulfilling our promises by achieving key milestones in promoting EV mobility and charging infrastructure. Stakeholder consultations have always been a key aspect of all our policies and Delhi’s EV Policy is a classic example of what can be achieved when the government and other stakeholders collaborate and dream together. It is one of the best drafted and executed EV policies across the world so far, and the credit goes to the processes adopted by the Delhi Government, such as consultations with all stakeholders to identify and resolve all possible issues. The Delhi Government has given the right incentives to bring together an entire Electric Vehicle ecosystem. It is now the turn of RWAs, commercial establishment owners and citizens to play their crucial roles in creating awareness and adding more EV charging infrastructure.”
The Delhi EV Forum is a part of Delhi Government’s efforts towards discussing and understanding challenges towards the deployment of EVs and charging infrastructure, identifying potential solutions, and gaining commitments from private sector players to help achieve the e-vehicle and charging infrastructure targets defined in the policy.
Shri Jasmine Shah, Vice-Chairperson, DDC Delhi said, “The Delhi EV Forum stands testament to the fact that the dream of Delhi’s EV journey has been a shared dream. The evolution of Delhi’s Electric Vehicle policy 2020 was strongly rooted in consultations and continuous discussions with all stakeholders and it is their enthusiastic participation that led to the framing of a very robust policy that was welcomed by all in the EV ecosystem. We had also then received feedback that such healthy discussions between the government and stakeholders outside the government should be continued.”
Highlighting the progressive EV Policy, Shri Jasmine Shah added, “With the policy, Delhi became the first state to set an ambitious aim of improving Delhi’s air quality by achieving 25% EV share in total new vehicle registrations by 2024. It seemed like a daunting challenge when the policy was launched in August 2020 as the EV share in Delhi was a nominal 1.2% at the time. But in less than 2 years, we are already halfway to that dream. Following the vision of our CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal, we achieved a huge milestone last month, with EV share having reached 12.5% of new vehicles. This shows that with a collaborative approach — wherein stakeholders collectively engage in dialogue and discussions, find resolutions to various issues and move forward — sky’s the limit! Today we are at the cusp of creating history. The last one and a half years can inspire a lot of hope — we can dream of doing things that have never been done before in India or even in other parts of the world.”
During the three-hour meeting, industry representatives provided their inputs on what could be the stepping stones towards achieving 100% electrification of their delivery fleets. They also discussed about the challenges and opportunities entailing the installation of charging stations in semi-public spaces, like hospitals, malls, markets, and RWAs. Moreover, the potential challenges and opportunities with retrofitting technologies were also deliberated upon. Considering that 15-year-old petrol vehicles and 10-year-old diesel vehicles not be allowed to operate on Delhi roads, retrofitting old vehicles to electric presents a unique opportunity for Delhi.
Delegates participating in the forum shared their perspectives and suggestions on Delhi’s EV roadmap and how they could contribute to Delhi’s clean mobility journey. While discussing the outcomes of the breakout groups, Akshima Ghate, Managing Director, RMI India said, “The Delhi government’s commitment and effort towards ensuring a consultative process throughout the EV policy formulation and implementation process is unprecedented. Platforms like the Delhi EV Forum, Delhi Urban Mobility Lab, Deliver Electric Delhi pilot, and campaigns like Switch Delhi have ensured that every stakeholder gets an opportunity to participate in Delhi’s EV journey.”