by Pankaj Yadav

NEW DELHI, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Delhi plans to have at least 25 percent of its total vehicles electric-run by 2023. The local government is learnt to have drafted an e-vehicle policy offering a slew of incentives, and subsidies for making e-vehicles attractive for customers, and also building a charging-infrastructure in the city.

This would help in reducing air pollution, that has been plaguing the Indian capital for a while. On Tuesday the air quality was recorded as "very poor."

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the overall air quality index (AQI) recorded in the Indian capital stood at 316, which falls in "very poor" category.

The Delhi government mulls over not charging the road-tax, registration fee and the parking fee from those buying e-vehicles, and also install a battery charging point after every three kilometers

Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot reportedly said the policy recognises that a new approach is required to kick-start electric vehicle adoption in Delhi and seeks to put in place several measures that address the key hurdles.

About 30 percent of particulate pollution in winter is caused by vehicles. Rapid adoption of zero-emission electric vehicles is, therefore, of great importance.

Raising the infrastructure for the e-vehicles, particularly the charging stations, would be a tough task. To meet this challenge, the draft policy offers a 100-percent subsidy on the installation of the first 10,000 charging points at the residential and non-residential buildings.

The draft policy said building bye-laws will be amended to ensure both home and work place parking becomes e-vehicle-ready through mandatory installation of charging conduits.

Meanwhile, the country's leading car manufacturing company Maruti Suzuki has also geared up to begin testing electric car. The company has plans to launch e-vehicle by 2020. Enditem

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