[TusharK]

According to a media report, the government of Delhi will be asking all e-commerce companies, food delivery services and cab aggregators to switch to electric vehicles.



In a bid to reduce air pollution in the city, services like Zomato and Swiggy, cab aggregators like Ola and Uber will have to switch to electric vehicles. The government might also bar fuel pumps from supplying fuel to vehicles without a PUC certificate.

As per the government, vehicle emissions account for 38% of the city's air pollution. Further, e-commerce services and cab aggregators account for 30% of the registered vehicles in Delhi.

While the government hasn't announced a specific deadline to complete the shift to EVs, a transport department official stated that it would be done in a phased manner.

Source: ET Auto

Link to Team-BHP News

[Gansan]

I already see some delivery guys from BB, Zomato etc riding EV two wheelers for the past month or two.

[warrioraks]

CNG was supposed to solve the pollution problem years back. That has not happened. In fact the situation has only worsened in the last few years.

Till the time government keeps focusing on soft targets in the name of policy action, we Delhi NCR folks would need to grin and bear toxic air every winter season

[tmtitash12]

The problem of pollution all over India is not due to new vehicles from bs4 and some of bs3 era, the problem is with the old poorly maintained private and commercial vehicles. There are many cars spewing thick black smoke still running on the roads, and surprisingly they get puc certificates too by simply covering the exhaust by covering with cloth during puc check. Some people do maintain their car in really immaculate condition. Government should impose stricter puc checking policy and the puc checking centers having cloth to cover the exhaust and just hand over a puc certificates should be stopped too. And well widespread ev implementation is still going to take some time in India, stricter pollution check for every vehicle would bring a real change in the pollution levels in our country

[kosjam]

Originally Posted by warrioraks

CNG was supposed to solve the pollution problem years back. That has not happened. In fact the situation has only worsened in the last few years.

Till the time government keeps focusing on soft targets in the name of policy action, we Delhi NCR folks would need to grin and bear toxic air every winter season

The issue worsened because of a funny (sarcastic kind) issue. Because the government tried to get the taxis and autos converted to CNG, CNG got the tag of low society. This, coupled with a lower penetration of CNG filling stations, and cheaper diesel, ensured that CNG as a fuel was largely avoided by most car buyers.
In the intervening period, the number of cars and two wheelers ballooned to such an extent that the conversion of public vehicles to CNG could not offset the large increase in pollution from private vehicles.

Lets hope this vicious circle is not repeated this time around with EVs. The key differentiator this time around will be home based charging, which would reduce the need for public charging infrastructure as compared to CNG.

[s.jain1990]

But is the government also thinking about how the primary issues of switching these vehicles to EV. Like for example

1. Energy Demand - How do you meet the energy requirements during peak summers? There are already sections of city which witnesses a lot of load shedding.

2. Fossil Fuel - The power generation is majorly dependent on thermal power which uses fossils. Without a source of clean energy, the focus is being shifted without the problem being solved.

3. Charging Infrastructure - The charging infrastructure would be a problem. Even today, I see queues at CNG pumps. Not sure how would this be tackled. If you look at the charging stations for e-rickshaws then you will see makeshift arrangements in parking lots which are very risky.

4. Charging Time - Many of the uber and olas are driven by 2 drivers. The first driver uses the car in morning shift and the second driver uses the car in night shift. So, we would need fast charging infrastructure which reduces the wait time for the drivers.

5. Cost -The cost is also a problem. I remember the plight of auto drivers and other vehicle owners when the shift was made to CNG. The EVs are not cheap and this decision can be a financial burden on many.

[libranof1987]

...... and then use gen-sets to charge them.

[ACM]

Good move if in phases for:

Commercial
1) 2 Wheelers
2) 5 seater cars.

But:
1) 7 seater electric vehicles?
2) Why not first 100% of all Govt. Vehicles.

[sri_tesla]

3 wheelers:
The transition away from petrol and diesel is already happening at a rapid pace, especially for 3 wheelers. Diesel 3 wheelers plummeted by a whopping 39% and petrol 3 wheelers by 28% YoY. This is despite overall sales of the segment growing by 36% YoY. Diesel market share came down from ~70% to 30% in just 1 year.



Due to the lack of enough production capacities and relatively fewer models, EVs are not fully gaining from this transition. The only thing limiting EV sales currently is the lack of enough production for competent models. As more and more companies increase their production capacities, EVs will make the majority of the sales.

2 wheelers:
2 wheeler sales are declining massively due to multiple factors like fuel prices, increasing vehicle prices, etc... People are starting to hold off their purchases and waiting for electric vehicles. Unlike the passenger car market, there are no production issues with petrol 2 wheelers. There is enough production and inventory levels are very high. With more and more electric 2 wheelers becoming available at almost similar prices as petrol models, people will completely switch to EVs in the 2 wheeler segment in the next 3-4 years.



The biggest contributing factor for EV adoption in India will be higher fuel prices, even though govt is giving very generous subsidies and tax cuts for EVs. As soon as 3-4 good models at decent prices with enough production become available, then those segments will see the rapid transition.

[anjan_c2007]

Good move but whether these two wheelers of the delivery guys are owned or funded by the e-commerce platforms? If not, then these poor souls are paid Rs 15 - 20K a month. One cannot expect them to buy EV's with the now nascent technology by spending Rs 100 K to 150 K.

The Delhi government in its very recent affidavit has given several assurances to the Supreme Court to contain the NCR pollution. Among these is ensuring car pooling by office goers. Do they have any regulatory powers or mechanisms to check whether office goers are switching over to car pooling?

Vehicular pollution is a worry and the 10/15 year old diesel and petrol private car de-registrations have not worked at all.

And neither the U. P. , nor the Haryana nor the Delhi or Punjab govts have vowed to contain stubble burning during these winter months. Stubble burning now accounts for nearly 40% plus of the NCR pollution, that was out in the open on our media till last winter. But this year the stubble burning pollution figures are being concealed by the governments as some states have assembly elections soon.

The political class and bureaucracy will continue to target the softies as contributors to the NCR pollution as that's a good way to get going and buy time. The court goes by the data submitted by the plaintiff/s and respondents. In rare cases the court takes suo moto cognisance of some verified and revealed facts and figures.

Such passing the buck will go on and on but the worst sufferers will continue to be the common people who are residents of the NCR.

[JJ1991]

Why this rule is not implemented on govt vehicles and how will the delivery guys with personal bikes/ scooters can afford an ev?

[mytbhp_turbo]

I think this is good "thought", before all of us get into ICE Vs EV discussion, let's try to think over how zomato/swiggy delivery person earns.
As per Zommato, on an average, a Zomato delivery partner travels anywhere between 100-120 km in a day, consuming 60-80 litres of fuel in a typical month.
While they have introduced new pay structure to help delivery partner absorb impact ( using method like distance pay), fuel cost still put pressure on these folks.

Having said that, something that needs to be pondered over is how they can easily acquire and maintain these EV's .