Public transport falters, petrol sales rise: Can Delhi’s EV policy fill the gap?

Virendra Kumar, a former government staffer in Delhi, is a regular bus commuter. But in recent months, he finds himself waiting longer – several CNG buses in the city have been decommissioned, shrinking the fleet. 

Half the buses in the city had wait times of over 15 minutes, as per a study by the Centre for Science and Environment last year. Periods that have grown longer since then, as the overall number of public buses has decreased from 7,683 to 5,216 over the last year. 

The older buses are retiring, newer electric ones are being inducted, but as the overall fleet thins out, the city has continued to choke. After all, an efficient public transport system is crucial to tackle vehicular pollution – Delhi’s biggest air quality threat.

The Rekha Gupta government has promised to fix both problems: adding more electric buses while improving last-mile connectivity. It has also introduced smaller ‘Devi’ buses (renamed from ‘Mohalla’ buses) to serve less accessible neighbourhoods.

However, the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) remains a piece of the capital’s puzzle. Between 2021 and 2024, EVs made up only 5–10 percent of all new vehicle registrations. This year, the share has risen to 15 percent – still far from the 25 percent target the city was meant to reach by 2024.

Meanwhile, petrol consumption in Delhi has surged as lakhs of new vehicles hit the roads. Over the last five years, petrol use has jumped 55 percent, from 6.6 lakh metric tonnes to 10.35 lakh, according to data from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

More petrol sold in Delhi than 3 states in north India

Among the 10 north Indian states and union territories, Delhi ranks fifth in petrol consumption. With a requirement of 10.35 lakh MT in 2024-25, Delhi’s petrol usage surpassed the combined consumption of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir. At 1.5 crore, Delhi has more vehicles than the combined strength of Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata and is registering 2,100 new vehicles every day.

Before Covid, the highest petrol intake was witnessed in 2017-18 at 9.27 lakh MT — almost comparable with the latest figure for 2024-25. It was only in 2023-24 that Delhi, recovering from the Covid slump, surpassed the 2017-18 level.

As far as diesel is concerned, the consumption has gone down to one-third in the last 10 years: from 15 lakh MT to 5.5 lakh MT. Apart from vehicles, diesel is also used in industries and generators. What has led to this drastic drop is restriction on DG sets and industries switching to cleaner fuels due to air pollution.  

“A drop in diesel sales has been compensated with an increase in petrol. Petrol vehicles registering today will continue to be on the road for the next 15 years, so petrol consumption will increase. What is needed is accelerating the transition to EVs,” said Amit Bhatt, managing director (India) at the International Council on Clean Transportation. Last year, an ICCT study revealed that in the real world, BS VI vehicles – with the strict vehicle emission norms in India – released gases several times more than they did during lab tests.

EV policy: Target missed

The share of EVs among vehicles has not gone up as envisaged. 

The 2020 Delhi EV policy aimed to achieve 25 percent EV adoption rate by 2024. Until 2024, the number hovered around 10 percent. This year, it has improved to 15 percent.

The new BJP government has decided to extend the current EV policy till March next year and is preparing a revised blueprint. An official from the Transport Department said that the new EV policy could provide more incentives for vehicle buyers.

Earlier this year, the media, citing a draft EV policy, said that the Delhi government could ban petrol, diesel and CNG vehicles.

Despite the government’s focus on EV adoption, all autorickshaws —3,683— registered this year were CNG. Last year, one-third of the total 4,247 registrations were electric.

Chandu Chaurasia, president of the Capital Driver Welfare Association (Gramin Seva), blamed it on the time taken to charge electric autorickshaws and lack of charging infrastructure. “If an auto shuttles between fixed routes, it’s affordable to have an electric auto. But for those who travel long distances, a driver can’t spend 2-3 hours charging in the middle of his shift. Ideally, an auto should run at least 200 km on one charge — which is not the case now,” he said. 

Vikas Nimesh, assistant professor at the School of Public Policy at IIT-Delhi, attributed the slump to the withdrawal of subsidies last year. “Recent months have seen a slowdown in new (EV) registrations, largely due to the withdrawal of purchase subsidies — a reminder that sustained policy support remains critical for long-term adoption,” he said.

EV adoption in the light motor vehicle and two-wheeler segments—the most sold vehicle categories—has somewhat stagnated too, shows the government data on the Vahan portal. In the two-wheeler segment in Delhi, the share of EVs has come down from 9 percent to 7 percent in the last four years. On the other hand, the share of EVs in the light motor vehicle category has increased from 2 percent to 7 percent. However, a combined share of EVs in this segment in the last four years remained as low as 3 percent.

When asked what the EV policy 2.0 should comprise, ICCT’s Bhatt said that the government should phase out ICE (internal combustion engines that run on fossil fuels) by 2035; that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) should be mandatorily asked to sell a certain portion of EVs; and charging facilities should be extended to housing societies and the right to charge be recognised.

Nimesh seconded Bhatt. “The next leap must focus on scaling shared, freight, and last-mile electrification; mandating EV-ready infrastructure in buildings; expanding fast-charging corridors; and accelerating the phase-out of high-emitting vehicles. To truly curb vehicular pollution, Delhi’s EV journey must now evolve from policy ambition to systems-level execution — where electric mobility becomes the default, not the alternative.”

Work in progress: Electric buses 

Delhi mostly travels by two modes of public transport: buses and metro. According to the Economic Survey of Delhi, daily Metro ridership surpassed that of public buses in 2023-24 with 45.26 lakh commuters using it daily against 25.02 lakh for DTC and 16.39 lakh for cluster buses.

A CSE report from 2024 revealed that though bus infrastructure had expanded, the service was poor. “Less than one percent of the bus stops have 10 minutes waiting time with a maximum of 5 minutes of delay. As much as 50 per cent of the bus stops have very high waiting time — more than 15 minutes,” read the report.

An ICCT report on accessibility levels of these buses shows inequitable distribution of bus network. Areas in Delhi’s periphery, such as Narela, Bawana, Najafgarh, Fatehpur Beri, are least accessible.

To make cramped neighbourhoods more accessible, the previous AAP government had introduced smaller 9-metre-long electric buses. So far, more than 1,100 such buses are on the road. They mostly undertake shorter trips up to 12 km. The Transportation Research and Injury Prevention (TRIP) Centre at IIT-Delhi has suggested 18 routes for these buses under the Delhi government’s route rationalisation initiative, while the rest of the routes were prepared by the Delhi government.

“These routes were decided based on identification of areas that lacked access to any formal public transport (buses or Metro), and combining this information with travel demand for each of those areas, that is, where people go, at what time, and the route they take. The travel demand was estimated using phone-based big data. We also estimated the travel demand being served by e-rickshaws and shared autorickshaws, and estimated the part of this demand that will switch to Devi buses,” said Girish Agrawal, professor at TRIP Centre.

These are some of Delhi’s most populated areas and lack bigger and wider roads as seen in central and south Delhi. Since the routes were announced recently, the next challenge for the government is another set of interventions: clearing roads of encroachment, installing bus stops where needed and route maps. “Just like Metro maps, we need to make bus routes more legible. We will soon install route maps with details on the number of stops,” said assistant professor Rahul Goel at Trip Centre. 

As far as the public bus fleet is concerned, the adoption is faster while the sheer number of the buses has gone down. Of the total 5,216 buses, 64 percent — or 3,317— are electric, said Vishwendra, special commissioner at the Delhi Transport Department. The Delhi government is likely to add 2,040 more electric buses by March 2026, he said.

Vishwendra termed the 9-metre buses a “game changer” as they could provide last mile connectivity due to their maneuverability in tight spaces.

It’s estimated that Delhi requires at least 11,000 public buses. But Delhi Transport Minister Pankaj Singh, in an event last month, said that around 8,000 were adequate once routes are rationalised.

Agrawal said the TRIP Centre will soon undertake a city-wide survey to understand barriers in bus use for longer routes. “We will also conduct stakeholder engagement with multiple RWAs and other neighbourhood level organisations to understand their public transport needs, and suggestions for improvement. Unlike Devi buses, the route rationalisation project with longer routes will study existing routes and therefore, the changes, if any, to be made to a route will have to account for its existing usage to avoid difficulties for commuters,” he said.

Bold moves and U-turns

The BJP government began with some bold moves. Environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa in March said that overage petrol and diesel vehicles would be denied fuel stations across the city starting July 1. The ban lasted two days. Facing backlash, the government recommended that the Commission for Air Quality Management roll back its decision. Sirsa blamed it on technological challenges and said that the fitness of a vehicle should also be considered along with the age of the vehicle.

In interim relief, the Supreme Court in August too said that no coercive action should be taken against overage vehicles overturning its 2018 order.

Sunil Dahiya, founder of EnviroCatalysts, a Delhi-based data and research organisation, said that a composite matrix should decide the fitness of vehicles. “Purely deciding the fitness of a vehicle on the basis of its age is not the right way to go about it. As of now, age of the vehicle is the only criterion that can be used. But in future we should move to a composite criteria that should include distance travelled, fitness and emission norms,” he said.

Transport Minister Pankaj Singh was not immediately available for comment.

This report is part of a collaborative campaign to tackle air pollution. Here’s how you can join the Fight To Breathe. Click here to power this campaign.