Delhi Government To Mandate Conversion Of Vehicles By Aggregators To All-Electric By April 1, 2030

After announcing the subsidy on electric cycles, the state of Delhi has once again taken a pro-active step to increase the adoption of EVs with the announcement of the Delhi Motor Vehicle Aggregator Scheme on July 5, 2022. The draft scheme is intended for licensing and regulation of aggregators providing passenger transport services and for regulation of other delivery aggregators providing delivery service of goods and commodities.

The notification issued by the state government mandates conversion of vehicles by aggregators to an all-electric fleet, in phases by April 1, 2030. This is applicable to all three and four-wheeler passenger vehicles, and two, three & four-wheeler commercial vehicles.

The scheme is applicable to aggregators with at least 25 motor vehicles in their aggregated fleet and to the vehicles that may be integrated by the aggregator.

Within first 6 months from the day of notification of the scheme, the aggregators of different vehicle categories are required to have 5-10% of all new onboarded fleets to be electric vehicles, as shown in the below chart.

Figure 1: Share of EV Required in New Onboarded Fleet

Source: Department of Transport, Government of NCT of Delhi
Note: The figure above pertains to new fleet that would be onboarded within 6 months from the notification date of the Delhi Motor Vehicle Aggregator Scheme.

The scheme requires the aggregators to ensure registration of all onboarded driver-partners and their vehicles currently in use within three months from the date of notification of the scheme. It also makes the driver’s license of the driver-partner mandatory, and the registration certificate of the vehicle(s) as well.

Additionally, the scheme requires the aggregators to ensure that all new vehicles (3-W and 4-W) that will be on-boarded are not older than five years from the date of registration of the vehicle and further all the vehicles in the fleet shall not be older than 8 years from the date of registration of the vehicle.

The scheme lays out certain monetary and non-monetary penalties for the aggregators in cases of not meeting with the prescribed guidelines. These are listed out in the table below.

Table 1: Monetary and Non-monetary Penalties for Delhi Motor Vehicle Aggregators

Monetary fine

Circumstance

Amount of fine (in INR)

Aggregator operates without a license after three months from the date of notification of these guidelines

25,000/- per vehicle

On-boarded vehicles are operated without declaration

15,000/- per vehicle

Aggregator is operating/managing a fleet of conventional vehicles in NCT of Delhi post April 1, 2030

50,000/- per vehicle

Non-monetary fine

Circumstance

Applicable fine

Aggregator fails to meet fleet conversion targets as per relevant sections of the scheme

The aggregator shall not be able to register any new-onboarded vehicle

Source: Department of Transport, Government of NCT of Delhi

In addition to these guidelines related to EVs, there are also some mandates for the aggregators providing on-demand mobility services to passengers. These include the fitment of an AIS 140 certified Vehicle Tracking and Monitoring System with panic buttons relevant for a public service vehicle and appropriate functioning of the GPS installed in the vehicle and provision of assistance as and when required.

The scheme is a positive step towards cleaner mobility, and one which is in tune with the need of the hour. This can be a precursor to other states announcing similar schemes and usher a new era in public mobility in the country. What remains to be seen though, is how well the scheme is implemented on ground and serve the larger purpose of cleaner and greener mobility.