(This story originally appeared in on Jul 21, 2014)

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government is mulling offering a subsidy to car owners choosing to go electric. The move comes after the Centre offered a subsidy in this year's budget under the National Mission on Electric Mobility . These, however, are not aimed at e-rickshaws."As part of the pilot project, the government will offer a substantial subsidy to those who want to switch to electric mode using a specialized conversion kit," said Kuldeep Gangar, special commissioner, transport department. The modalities of the amount of subsidy are still being worked out. These retrofitted hybrid-electric kits can be used on any vehicle not more than two or three years old.As per the Centre's proposal, "half of the retrofitment costs" for such hybridized vehicles can be borne by the government as a pilot basis. At present, only one company is manufacturing this kit, and it costs less than Rs 1 lakh. Gangar said the government hopes to have more manufacturers participate before it's taken up on a large scale.The government will also identify deployment points for public charging installations in places like parking lots, malls, cinemas etc, state the minutes of the meeting held earlier this month."This has to be geographically spread out, so that, on an average, a public charging facility should be available within 2-3kms," add the minutes of the meeting.The government is readying a Rs 14,000-crore scheme to push green vehicles. The subsidy will be a proportion of the difference between the price of a car running on fossil fuel and that of a green vehicle, said sources.The heavy industry ministry, which has moved a proposal for clearance by the finance ministry , has suggested that the maximum subsidy of 35% should be given to pure electric vehicles; while a 25% benefit should be provided for plug-in vehicles that can travel at least 15km at one go.