Delhi Govt taking multiple initiatives to promote e-vehicles: Kailash Gahlot

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Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said on Saturday that the state government is taking all steps to encourage people to move from fuel-run vehicles to electric vehicles by establishing charging points at a distance of every 3 kms.

The Minister claimed the AAP government has floated the largest tender in the country so far to build 100 public charging stations with a target of total 500 charging points at prominent locations across the city. "These charging points will be operational by December 2021 and will add to the existing 72 stations already operational in Delhi," he said. The government is also developing a mobile app to ensure that the geo-locations of all charging stations and the status of chargers can be checked.

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Gahlot said that his government has taken another big step in this regard and has directed all commercial buildings in the city to set aside 5% space in their premises for charging points. He claimed that this will help to increase the number of charging points to around 10,000 by December-end.

"All commercial and institutional buildings such as malls, shopping complexes, cinema halls, multiplexes, office spaces, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, etc that have a parking capacity of more than 100 vehicles will soon have to set aside at least 5% of their total parking capacity for EVs along with suitable slow EV chargers," the Transport Minister said. The department passed this order on Friday.

The government has already directed that 20% area in parking facilities has to be kept aside for EV parking in all new constructions under the unified building bylaws for Delhi.

The Delhi government under its "Switch Delhi" campaign to reduce pollution in the city has launched a mass awareness programme to sensitise the people about the environmental benefits of switching to EVs as well as to make them aware of the incentives and infrastructure being developed under Delhi's EV policy.