Within six months, four-wheeler aggregators will need 5% of their new fleet additions to be electric vehicles, rising to 15% in a year and 25% in two years.
The Delhi government has released a draught Motor Vehicle Aggregators Scheme, 2021, which encourages online passenger and commercial vehicle operators to use electric vehicles more frequently (EVs). The draught strategy also proposes a continual driver assessment to improve the safety of services in the national capital, in addition to putting out a proposed timeframe for adding additional electric vehicles to their fleet.
Electrification targets will only apply to new cars brought under the umbrella of operators such as Uber, Olacabs, and others, according to the draught scheme. For the time being, older vehicles already registered with these aggregators will continue to operate.
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Within six months of receiving an aggregator licence from the Delhi government, at least 10% of new fleet additions in the two- and three-wheeler sectors must be electric vehicles. Within one year, 25% of all new fleet additions must be electric vehicles, and within two years, this must increase to 50%.
In the case of four-wheelers, aggregators will need EVs to make up 5% of new additions within six months, 15% in a year, and 25% in two years.
Any vehicle aggregator with a fleet of more than 50 vehicles will be expected to comply with the program’s standards, according to the scheme. Both aggregators and the drivers who work for them will need to receive licences from the Delhi government’s transportation department. Each of these licences will be renewed once a year. It encourages the use of electric vehicles by eliminating licence applications and renewal fees.
Operators who register under this system must also establish a 24-hour contact centre in Delhi, which must maintain real-time data on all cars they operate at any given moment. These contact centres would also be required to submit any booking-related data with the Delhi government’s transportation department at any time, including passenger names, car registration numbers, and driver information.
When it comes to monitoring drivers who work for an aggregator, if the aggregator receives user reports for more than 15% of trips in a month, the aggregator will be compelled to take “appropriate action.” “action” is being taken against them. After a year of service, drivers who receive a rating of less than 3.5 out of 5 will be subjected to an “observation period.” “three-month period The Delhi government has the authority to revoke the licence granted to them under this scheme if their score does not improve.
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If aggregators operating in Delhi fail to fulfil any of the aforementioned targets, they will face penalties under the system.
“We feel that such a change hinges around an organic ecosystem ready, which includes well-developed, accessible charging infrastructure, and a pre-existing equivalent offtake of EVs at the point of purchase itself,” an Uber India official stated. The ability of many players across the EV value chain, including vehicle makers, to share responsibility fairly will be a key factor of the mandates’ success.”
Ola Cabs did not respond to a request for comment.
Such a strategy, according to Akash Gupta, CEO of Zipp Electric, a commercial EV startup that supplies fleet vehicles to companies like Amazon, Zomato, and Delhivery, is already expected in the sector. As a result, the firm anticipates a sixfold increase in demand in the coming fiscal year, as well as more state governments adopting similar policies.