AAP’s ‘Switch Delhi’ Focuses On Sensitizing Youth, Enters Final Week of Campaign

AAP’s ‘Switch Delhi’ – eight weeks electric vehicle (EV) campaign has entered its final week and the Delhi government is endeavouring towards sensitising youth about the perks of EVs and Delhi EV policy in the final week of the campaign.

Transport minister Kailash Gahlot termed Delhi’s EV policy as the “most progressive policy around the globe”, he asserted that the campaign, which has entered its eighth and final week, was aimed at sensitizing, informing, and encouraging Delhi’s youth to adopt EVs. He said, “The youth of Delhi can play a huge role in making the EV movement in Delhi a mass movement. 

“They can drive change and be the torchbearers of this movement. The Delhi government will engage with the youth via the Switch Delhi campaign to motivate them to adopt EVs and contribute to a cleaner and greener Delhi,” the minister added.

Requesting the youth of the city to pledge that the first vehicle they purchase would be an electric one, he supposed they must “come forward and own the ongoing EV movement in Delhi”.

Gahlot also remarked on the range of financial and non-financial incentives offered under Delhi’s EV policy. As he informed, “By switching to electric two-wheelers, which have very low operating costs, an individual can make an annual saving of approximately Rs 22,000 as compared to using a petrol scooter and Rs 20,000 as compared to a petrol bike.” 

“An average electric two-wheeler provides a lifetime savings of 1.98 tonnes of carbon emissions as compared to an average petrol two-wheeler which is equivalent to planting 11 trees,” Gahlot added.

Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal launched this ‘Switch Delhi’ campaign on February 4, 2021, as an awareness program to promote the public to adopt electric vehicles (EVs) in the state. Kejriwal appealed to people to buy EVs to combat pollution in the city, he announced that the government will be giving subsidies on the purchase of EVs and there will be no road tax and registration fees for EVs in the state.

The campaign has been received “exceedingly well” and many two-wheeler companies have decided to “aggressively” launch new EV models in Delhi, an official statement said on the second week of the campaign. As Gahlot informed, that since the launch of the Delhi EV policy in August last year, 630 new electric two-wheelers have been registered and more are being registered every day.

In the third week of the campaign, Kailash Gahlot announced that all leased or hired cars to be used by Delhi government officials for commute will be EVs within the coming six months. He also claimed that the subsidies being offered by the Delhi government are one of the highest in the country on the purchase of EVs.

Consequently, in the fifth week, Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL), announced its support for the Delhi government’s ‘Switch Delhi’ campaign by deploying 1,500 EVs and over 1,000 charging stations. With the help of the government subsidy, it aims to reach 10,000 charging stations in three years.

Recently, in mid-March, Kailash Gahlot had announced that the government is soon going to introduce an interest subvention scheme worth 5 percent for EV purchases in the state.

Interestingly, DDC vice-chairperson Jasmine Shah announced that the share of EVs in the city has increased from less than 1 percent to 2.2 percent in three months after the announcement of the EV policy by the Delhi government.