Electric Vehicles This Week: Delhi’s EV Policy, Bundle Of New Entries And More

Taking concrete steps to curb air pollution and promote emobility in the national capital, the Delhi government has rolled out its policy on Electric Vehicles (EVs). The new policy, launched on December 23, offered something to each stakeholder — consumer, startups and other private entities. 

The Delhi government has introduced incentives and subsidies for both electric two and four-wheelers based on the engine power of the electric motor. In addition, the Delhi government has also focused on boosting the charging infrastructure in the region. For private electric bike-taxi services, the government has also made special provisions.

With the new policy in place, the Delhi government plans to have over 35K EVs by 2020. Moreover, the government is also planning to set up 250 charging stations in the national capital. The government aims to have over five lakh EVs on the road in the next five years.

Chart of the week: Long Term EV Adoption

EV News From India

Yamaha Tests EV Waters Through Market Research

Yamaha Motors India chairman Motofumi Shitara said that the company is conducting feasibility studies on the cost of ownership, infrastructure availability, policy roadmap, financing and other factors that will come into play to boost emobility in India. Yamaha conducted similar research in Japan before launching the electric scooter EC-05 in Taiwan.

Now You Can Find The Right EV Charging Station Through Google Maps

Last year, Google Maps introduced a feature that allowed users to locate EV charging points. Now, the company has rolled out another update that will allow the users to filter out charging stations based on the charger types that are compatible with the vehicle. The feature is also available in the US and UK.

Rapido Aims To Electrify 10% Of Its Fleet With EBikeGo

Bengaluru-based bike taxi startup Rapido is planning to electrify 10% of its fleet by 2020. For this, the company has tied up with the electric two-wheeler rental platform eBikeGo. Both the companies aim to provide scalable, eco-friendly and economical solutions for the Indian shared mobility and rental market.

Tata Motors Unveils Its Electric SUV Nexon

This week the Indian EV market welcomed its third electric sports utility vehicle (SUV) Tata’s Nexon Electric. Unlike Tata Tigore, Nexon will be available for private players as well. Although the vehicle will be launched in 2020, the bookings are open for INR 21K. Tata’s Nexon Electric will be launched in three variants — XM, XZ+ and XZ+ LUX.

Yulu Partners To Deploy 130 EVs Southern Railways’ Parking Stations

Bengaluru-based micromobility platform Yulu has partnered with the Southern Railways to deploy 130 battery-operated two-wheelers at parking zones. The parking zones will be provided by the Southern Railways at seven stations, including Bengaluru Cantonment, Bangalore East, Whitefield, Hoodi Hault, Bellandur Road, KR Puram, and Baiyapnahhli.

Benling India’s E-Scooter Aura To Be Launched In 2020

Gurugaon-based Benling India has introduced its newest electric scooter Auro, which will officially be launched in the first quarter of 2020. The company has already launched three low-speed electric scooters in India — Kriti, Icon and Falcon.

Startup Of The Week: EBikeGo

Found in 2017 by Irfan Khan, eBikeGo is an electric two-wheeler rental platform that generates its revenue from tourist and customer bike rentals. It is currently operating in five Indian cities — Delhi, Amritsar, Jaipur, Jalandhar, and Agra — and is targetting Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Kochi and Kolkata next.

In August 2019, eBikeGo also expanded its services to Andaman and Nicobar with its newest addition Ampere Zeal, which was procured from the electric vehicles (EV) manufacturer Okinawa Autotech.

Besides this, eBikeGo also partners with logistics delivery platforms to electrify their fleet. So far, eBikeGo has provided its ebikes to food aggregator startups Zomato and Swiggy, ecommerce giant Amazon, logistics unicorn Delhivery, bike rental platform Rapido, gifting platform Ferns & Petals and coliving hotel chain Gostops, among others.

The ebike rental startup started off its journey in 2017 with 640 and now serves close to 18K users. eBikeGo aims to enroll a million users by 2020, and capture 5% of the commercial two-wheeler market by 2021. Moreover, the ebike rental platform also partnered with the Taiwanese electric scooter shared mobility platform UrDa to accelerate its expansion plans. 

EV News From Around The World

Turkey Projected To Have 2.5 Mn EVs by 2030

 According to a report by SHURA Energy Transition Center, Turkey is projected to have some 2.5 Mn electric cars by 2030. The report adds that 154 people out of every 1,000 people own EVs in Turkey presently. The ratio is expected to go up to 300 out of every 1000 people.

Donald Trump Likely To Limit EV Tax Credits In US

US President Donald Trump has reportedly cancelled the plans to expand EV tax credits to government spending packages. The tax credit is like subsidies that give a relaxation of up to $7,5000 on EVs to consumers.