CII & Hero Electric Holds Delhi’s First Electric Vehicle Summit

CII and Hero Electric holds Delhi’s first Electric Vehicle summit held post the lockdown bringing key factors, policies, and ideas into picture to shape India’s way forward in the EV space. Speaking at the 1st edition of the event, themed, “The Smarter Choice” were Mr Kailash Gahlot, Hon’ble Minister for Transport, Law, IT, Govt of NCT of Delhi along with Mr Aditya Berlia, Chairman CII Delhi and Mr Naveen Munjal, Managing Director, Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd.

Delhi Govt committed to ensure move towards electric mobility, Delhi roads to have maximum EVs, that will cut down pollution level by 17-18% pollution, says Hon’ble Minister, Mr Kailash Gahlot.

Addressing to CII and Hero Electric’s virtual audience, Mr Kailash Gahlot, Minister for Transport, Law, IT, Govt of Delhi, said that any customer who plans to buy a vehicle, they should have Electric Vehicle in their mind, by default.

The Minister said the Government of NCT of Delhi has come out with a friendly EV Policy and focus is on Charging Infrastructure in Delhi and Charging Stations to be at a radius of 3 kms in Delhi. All OEMs to come together in order to work on cost of EV, which is on the higher side and which must come down. Delhi Govt is all set for incentive scheme.

He assured that the Delhi government is committed to help the Industry in the ease of doing business and invited CII and its Industry Members to part of the Joint Working Group, and Delhi Govt will extend all kind of support, as it benefits citizens of Delhi.

CII Delhi EV Summit 2020 powered by the biggest EV manufacturers, Hero Electric is a day-long virtual interaction platform with an objective of on how the policy will change the transportation system in the capital city. India is taking small but strong steps towards putting more electric vehicles on its roads and Delhi is well poised to charge up the path ahead with several steps either implemented, announced or in the offing. While more options in terms of electric vehicles is a sure-shot way of popularizing electric mobility, factors such as affordability and supporting infrastructure too play an equally crucial role. These two factors, then, may manifest in their biggest way from Delhi. 

Mr Aditya Berlia, Chairman, CII Delhi State:  Electric mobility is the future of mankind. In 2020 it does not mean compromising - from the community road to the race track we are seeing EVs outperform. The technology has evolved enough for airplane manufacturers to seriously consider it, and with the renewed interest in nuclear fusion, we are looking at EV being the default option within two decades. Government and industry are partnering to bring an EV future sooner rather than later and with excellent leadership and policy interventions clearing the legacy obstacles to adoption.

Mr Naveen Munjal, Chairman, CII Delhi EV Summit 2020, and; Managing Director, Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd.: “The Govt of India, Delhi Govt, CII, and DHI have initiated some brilliant policies which will help realize the goal of transforming the Electric dreams of India into a reality.

First FAME-I, followed by FAME-II, and now the EV policy introduced by Delhi – these are actions which help create an ecosystem towards higher Electric adoption. With the country gradually opening up, the pandemic has brought upon us an opportunity to realize the reduction in pollution due to lesser ICE vehicles on road and adoption of a cleaner, greener solution that is Electric Vehicles”.

Mr Sohinder Gill, CEO Hero Electric “It was great to see the EV industry come together post the announcement of the EV policy by the Govt of Delhi and discuss the way forward. The goal for us is to see about 5 lakh EVs on the roads in the coming years, and to achieve that, we need to jumpstart now. The city of Delhi has been grappling with pollution year on year with no solution in sight. The concept of e-mobility to mitigate the problems of air pollution will go a long way to bring it down. Proper implementation and involvement of all the stakeholders in framing the mandate is crucial to get the most out of the policy. We will need collective thinking to get enough number of electric vehicles on roads to create a word of mouth that will further increase the EV growth in the country.”

Ms Sullja Motwani, Vice Chairperson, Kinetic Engineering; and, Founder & CEO, Kinetic Green Energy & Power Solutions Limited: “India’s EV industry welcomes the Delhi EV policy as a farsighted move aimed at paving way for long term electrification of Delhi’s transport sector and greatly reducing air pollution in Delhi. Focus on demand generation of electric 3 and 2 wheelers is also apt, as these are the low hanging fruit and also will bring savings to the common man. We request Delhi Government to ensure speedy and effective implementation of all initiatives, especially announcement of Open permit for E Autos. We also urge them to introduce similar incentives for e cycles, a new promising segment in EVs, for the bottom of the pyramid.”

Mr Jeffry Jacob, Partner KPMG: EV growth in India will be powered by 2W, 3W and fleet vehicles which have the potential to emerge as vital options for last mile transportation of passengers as well as delivery of light goods. Set up of the supporting ecosystem and enabling policy framework will be crucial to drive adoption.