IIT-Madras prof hails policy as ‘best India has seen so far’; emphasises need for innovation, research

Several industry leaders and experts in electric mobility on Tuesday hailed the Delhi government’s draft Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy, 2018, as the “best in India so far”.

The opinions were expressed during a day-long stakeholders’ consultation on the proposed draft policy, the government said in a statement.

The consultation was organised by the Delhi government’s Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Institute.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was the chief guest and inaugurated the consultations in the presence of Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, DDC Vice-Chairperson Jasmine Shah, and Commissioner (Transport) Varsha Joshi.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Kejriwal said that the Delhi government was “fully committed to taking bold steps to fight air pollution” and like, the odd-even scheme, was ready to make “all necessary efforts to transition the transport sector in Delhi to electric vehicles”.

Mr. Gahlot said that Delhi government had already made the commitment to induct 1,000 e-buses, more than anywhere in India, and the ambitious draft Delhi EV policy was a step further to establish Delhi as the “EV capital of India”.

IIT-Madras Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, who is also the former advisor to the Centre on its Electric Vehicle Policy, hailed the Delhi government’s draft policy as “the best India has seen so far”. He also emphasised the need for innovation and research to bring price parity between conventional and electric vehicles.