Delhi EV Policy 2026: The Hidden Clauses, Expiring Subsidies, and Deadlines You Aren’t Ready For

Reading Time: 15 minutes

Delhi’s electric vehicle rulebook is no longer a draft. On 30 June 2026, the Lieutenant Governor of the National Capital Territory of Delhi formally notified the Delhi Electric Vehicles Policy, 2026, effective 1 July 2026. Here is every rupee, every deadline, and every clause — decoded.

Quick Fact File – Notified on: 30 June 2026 (F. No. JC/EV/TPT/2026/02/281), under Cabinet Decision No. 3349 dated 29.06.2026 – Effective from: 1 July 2026 – Valid till: 31 March 2030 (a four-year policy window), unless extended or amended by GNCTD – Legal basis: Section 67(3) and Section 2(41) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, read with Article 21 of the Constitution and the Supreme Court’s direction in M.C. Mehta vs Union of India – Signed by: Niharika Rai, Secretary-cum-Commissioner, on orders of the Lieutenant Governor

If you searched for “Delhi EV policy 2026 subsidy” hoping for a straight answer on how much money you actually get, what deadlines affect your vehicle choice, and which departments are now responsible for making charging stations appear — this is the only breakdown you need. Every number below is lifted directly from the final gazette notification, not the April 2026 draft that circulated earlier for public feedback.

1. Why This New Delhi EV Policy 2026 Exists: The Air Quality Case

The policy’s preamble doesn’t mince words. It leans on the Commission for Air Quality Management’s (CAQM) latest report submitted to the Supreme Court, which identifies vehicular emissions as the single largest contributor to Delhi’s winter air pollution — 23% during the winter period. The report also flags that two-wheelers make up roughly 67% of Delhi’s total vehicle stock, which is why scooters and motorcycles get a dedicated, aggressive incentive ladder rather than an afterthought subsidy.

Three-wheelers, commercial cars, and N1-category goods carriers are separately called out because of their high daily mileage — meaning a handful of these vehicles pollute disproportionately more than an average private car sitting in a garage most of the day. That’s the logic behind prioritising their electrification first.

Policy Objectives (as stated in the notification)

• Accelerate EV adoption across all major vehicle categories
• Build a comprehensive public and private charging network across Delhi
• Enable a robust EV supply chain — battery recycling, servicing, component recovery
• Reduce reliance on Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles to improve air quality
• Ensure fiscal efficiency and transparent, Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)-based implementation

2. Purchase Incentives: The Complete Segment-Wise Breakdown

Every purchase incentive is disbursed via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to individual buyers, proprietary firms, agencies, or companies who are residents of NCT of Delhi, with the vehicle both purchased and registered in Delhi. You apply directly through a mechanism the Transport Department will notify separately — no dealer middlemen for the subsidy claim itself.

Two Timelines You Cannot Miss – Your incentive application must be submitted within 30 days of your Registration Certificate (RC) being generated. – The government must disburse the eligible subsidy within 60 days of your online application, subject to verification.

Only EV models that have been vetted and empanelled by a dedicated Model Approval Committee (constituted under the Transport Department) are eligible — so always confirm your shortlisted model is on the approved list before assuming a subsidy applies.

2.1 Electric Two-Wheelers

Eligibility cap: Ex-showroom price must not exceed ₹2.25 lakh.

Year of Registration	Incentive Rate	Maximum Cap
Year 1 from notification	₹10,000 per kWh	₹30,000
Year 2 from notification	₹6,600 per kWh	₹20,000
Year 3 from notification	₹3,300 per kWh	₹10,000

This applies equally to plug-in and battery-swapping e-two-wheeler models. There is no Year 4 incentive slab specified in the notification — the ladder explicitly runs for three years, after which the policy relies on mandates rather than cash incentives to keep momentum.

2.2 Electric Three-Wheeler Auto-Rickshaws (Category L5M)

Year of Registration	Flat Incentive
Year 1 from notification	₹50,000
Year 2 from notification	₹40,000
Year 3 from notification	₹30,000

Fine print that matters: No incentive is given to e-autos with a battery capacity below 4 kWh, and the benefit applies to both plug-in and battery-swapping models. It is available for both the replacement of an old CNG auto-rickshaw and the purchase of a brand-new electric auto, but only within the overall permit ceiling already fixed for auto-rickshaws in NCT of Delhi — meaning it does not create fresh permits, it electrifies the existing quota.

2.3 Electric Four-Wheeler Goods Carriers (N1 category)

Year of Registration	N1 above 1.75-tonne GVW	N1 up to 1.75-tonne GVW
Year 1 from notification	₹1,00,000	₹50,000
Year 2 from notification	₹75,000	₹37,500
Year 3 from notification	₹50,000	₹25,000

GVW here means Gross Vehicle Weight — the split matters because a lot of small last-mile delivery vans fall under the 1.75-tonne threshold and get roughly half the incentive of heavier N1 trucks.

What’s missing here? Unlike two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and N1 goods carriers, the final notification carries no dedicated per-kWh or flat purchase incentive for private electric cars. Car buyers instead benefit from the road tax/registration exemption and the scrapping incentive covered below — there is no separate cash-on-purchase subsidy for a new electric car bought without scrapping an old one.

2.4 Cross-Scheme Alignment

Clause 4.5 keeps this future-proof: eligibility of EV models for these purchase incentives must align with FAME 2, the PM E-DRIVE scheme, and any other Government of India or GNCTD scheme in force. In practice, this means Delhi’s list of eligible models will track whatever the Centre’s PM E-DRIVE empanelment already recognises.

3. Scrapping Incentives: The Segment-by-Segment Matrix

This is arguably the most talked-about chapter of the policy because it directly links Delhi’s old-vehicle scrappage push to new EV purchases. Every scrapping incentive below requires the Certificate of Deposit (CoD) from an authorised scrapping facility, and the new EV purchase must happen within six months of that CoD’s issuance. It applies only to Delhi-registered BS-IV and below vehicles, and the payout goes only to the owner of the scrapped vehicle.

Vehicle Category Being Scrapped	Scrapping Incentive	Key Condition
Electric Two-Wheeler (new purchase)	₹10,000	Scrapping Delhi-registered BS-IV or below two-wheeler
Electric Three-Wheeler / L5M (new purchase)	₹25,000	Scrapping Delhi-registered BS-IV or below three-wheeler
Electric Car — Non-Transport (new purchase)	₹1,00,000	New car’s ex-showroom price ≤ ₹30 lakh; capped at the first 1,00,000 eligible applicants under the entire policy
Electric N1 Goods Carrier / Truck (new purchase)	₹50,000	Scrapping Delhi-registered BS-IV or below N1 truck
Gramin Sewa Vehicle	₹15,000	New e-Gramin Sewa vehicle (D+6/D+7 configuration) must have a Li-ion or other advanced battery

The ₹1 lakh car scrapping bonus is first-come, first-served. Once 1,00,000 applicants nationwide (well, Delhi-wide) have claimed it, it’s gone for the remainder of the policy period — regardless of how many years remain until 31 March 2030. If you’re planning to scrap an old BS-IV petrol or diesel car for a new EV, the smart move is to apply early rather than waiting.

4. Road Tax, Registration Fee & No-Entry Exemptions

4.1 The ₹30 Lakh Threshold for Cars

Vehicle Category	Ex-Showroom Price	Road Tax & Registration Fee Exemption
Any electric vehicle (2W/3W/N1 etc., subject to the car-specific clauses below)	Not applicable	100% exemption for the entire life of the vehicle
Electric Car	≤ ₹30 lakh	100% exemption till 31 March 2030
Electric Car	> ₹30 lakh	No exemption at all

This is a clean means-tested design: buy a mass-market or upper-mid electric car priced at or under ₹30 lakh, and you get full relief from road tax and registration fees. Cross that ₹30 lakh line, and the government offers nothing on this front — a deliberate move to stop public subsidy money from flowing toward luxury EVs.

Note on hybrid vehicles: Unlike some earlier draft commentary that floated a partial exemption for Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles (SHEVs), the final notified policy text contains no such hybrid-specific road tax concession. The exemptions in Section 4.7 apply strictly to electric vehicles as defined in the policy (vehicles powered exclusively by an electric motor drawing traction energy from an onboard battery). Hybrid buyers should not assume any relief under this specific policy.

4.2 No-Entry Timing Exemption for N2 E-Trucks

The first 1,000 private electric trucks in the N2 category — purchased and registered in Delhi within three months of the notification date, and not used by any GNCTD department, autonomous body, corporation, board, MCD, NDMC, or Delhi Cantonment Board — get exempted from Delhi’s no-entry timing restrictions for 10 years from their registration date. Detailed eligibility procedures will follow in the operational guidelines, so keep an eye on Transport Department circulars if you run a logistics fleet planning to induct N2 e-trucks quickly.

5. Electrification Mandates: The Hard Deadlines

Incentives are optional to claim; mandates are not. This is where the policy stops being a carrot and becomes a rulebook.

Effective Date	Segment	Mandate
1 January 2026	Fleet aggregators & delivery service providers	No new purely diesel or petrol 4-Wheeler LCVs, 4-Wheeler LGVs (N1 up to 3.5 tonnes), or two-wheelers may be inducted into existing fleets. BS-VI two-wheelers were allowed as an exception only till 31 December 2026.
From date of notification (1 July 2026)	GNCTD government fleet	All hired/leased non-transport and light passenger vehicles must, to the extent possible, be electric.
From date of notification	DTC / Transport Department buses	All new intra-state buses inducted must be electric.
From date of notification	N1/N2/N3 trucks & M2/M3 passenger vehicles bought/leased/hired by GNCTD departments, autonomous bodies, MCD, NDMC, Delhi Cantonment Board	Must be electric only.
End of Year 2 from notification	School buses	Minimum 10% of the total fleet (owned, leased, or hired) must be electric.
End of Year 3 from notification	School buses	Minimum 20% electric.
1 January 2027	Electric three-wheelers (L5) and N1 goods carriers	Only electric permitted for new registration in NCT of Delhi.
1 April 2028	Electric two-wheelers	Only electric permitted for new registration in NCT of Delhi.
31 March 2030	School buses	Minimum 30% electric fleet share.
31 March 2030	Overall policy	Validity of this notification ends, unless extended or modified.

The one date everyone will misread. The fleet-aggregator mandate (Section 8.5) takes effect from 1 January 2026 — a date that had already passed by the time this policy was formally notified on 30 June 2026. In practical terms, this provision was written to apply retroactively/immediately upon notification, meaning Delhi’s cab aggregators, food and e-commerce delivery fleets should already treat any purely ICE 4-wheeler LCV, N1 LGV, or petrol/diesel two-wheeler induction after that date as non-compliant, with the narrow exception of BS-VI two-wheelers permitted only till the end of 2026. All other terms of the existing Delhi Motor Vehicle Aggregator and Delivery Service Provider Scheme, 2023 continue to apply unchanged.

5.1 On Four-Wheelers (Private Cars)

There is, notably, no fixed electrification mandate date for private four-wheelers yet. The policy only states that GNCTD “intends” to bring out an electrification mandate for four-wheelers in future, alongside a framework to disincentivise inefficient, polluting vehicles. Car buyers get incentive-based nudges for now — mandates may follow in a future amendment.

5.2 Hydrogen and Other Clean Fuels

If cleaner-fuel vehicles — hydrogen being the example cited — become available during this policy’s four-year run, GNCTD retains the discretion to allow their induction or registration on a case-by-case basis, subject to a decision by the Delhi EV Apex Committee routed through the Council of Ministers.

6. School Bus Electrification Timeline

Milestone	Minimum Electric Share of Total Fleet
By end of Year 2 from notification	10%
By end of Year 3 from notification	20%
By 31 March 2030	30%

This mandate covers the entire school bus fleet — whether owned, leased, or hired — and applies uniformly across all schools in NCT of Delhi. The Education Department is responsible for enforcement and will fold compliance into school recognition and affiliation processes. Separately, the Transport Department will try to get DTC and cluster e-bus concessionaires to allow school buses to charge at their depots, and funding will be sought under PM E-DRIVE and other sources to build dedicated charging capacity for this segment.

7. Charging & Battery Swapping Infrastructure: Who’s Actually Building It

This is where the policy moves from money to machinery. Delhi Transco Limited (DTL), operating through the Power Department, has been named the nodal agency for all public EV charging and battery swapping infrastructure in NCT of Delhi. Its responsibilities, as laid out in Section 5, are extensive:

• Aggregating demand, proposed sites, and load requirements across every department and agency.

• System-level planning for optimal siting, grid readiness, and phased rollout.

• Developing and periodically updating Standard Operating Procedures — technical standards, approval timelines, service-level benchmarks, monitoring mechanisms.

• Building or integrating a dedicated digital portal (either under the PM E-DRIVE framework or a GNCTD-specific platform) for end-to-end site onboarding, approvals, monitoring, and reporting — done in coordination with District Magistrates and Deputy Commissioners through the Revenue Department.

• Creating a Single Window Clearance facility so charge-point and battery-swapping operators can get faster approvals and quicker electricity connections

Beyond DTL, DISCOMs, private entities, real estate developers, and other eligible stakeholders are actively encouraged to set up public charging stations across Delhi. Resident Welfare Associations, Group Housing Societies, and residential communities are similarly encouraged to enable community and private charging within residential premises.

A High-Powered Committee, chaired by the Chief Secretary of GNCTD and including representatives from Transport, Power, Planning, Environment, Finance, DTL, DISCOMs, and any other necessary department, will oversee this entire infrastructure push. Its detailed composition and Terms of Reference will be notified separately with the Chief Minister’s approval.

On the grid side, DISCOMs are encouraged to explore Energy Storage Systems at e-bus depots to manage load and reduce peak demand, and — through the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) — to explore Time-of-Day tariff structures that make off-peak EV charging cheaper.

7.1 The OEM Charging Mandate

Every Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) operating in NCT of Delhi must ensure at least one public EV charging station per dealership, with:

• A minimum of 3 charging points for two-/three-wheelers
• A minimum of 2 charging points for four-wheelers

These stations must, as far as possible, align with the siting categories (Category A, B, and C) specified under the PM E-DRIVE scheme’s operational guidelines for public charging stations. OEMs are also expected to work toward stabilising EV costs to keep them affordable for Delhi residents.

8. Battery Recycling: The Ecosystem Layer

The policy dedicates an entire chapter to end-of-life battery management — a genuine first for how comprehensively it’s structured at the state level:

• The Environment Department will ensure OEMs and other obligated entities strictly comply with the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022, including Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) targets and environmentally sound waste-battery management.

• The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) will facilitate the deployment of battery collection centres across Delhi under a Public-Private Partnership model, working with authorised recyclers.

• DPCC will notify Standard Operating Procedures covering the safe collection, storage, transport, and transfer of waste batteries to authorised recyclers or Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs).

• OEMs must submit periodic reports on EPR compliance and battery traceability to DPCC, in a format and frequency that DPCC prescribes.

• GNCTD will promote a battery traceability ecosystem built on unique battery identifiers, supporting refurbishment, safe second-life use, and eventual recycling.

9. Institutional Framework: Who Is Responsible for What

Department / Body	Core Responsibility Under Delhi EV Policy 2026
Transport Department (Nodal Department)	Overall implementation of EV Policy 2026; issues clarifications, minor amendments, and operational guidelines; houses a dedicated EV Cell under the Special/Additional/Joint Commissioner (EV), supported by a hired Project Management Consultant (PMC)
Delhi Transco Limited (DTL), via Power Department	Nodal agency for planning, deployment, and monitoring of all public EV charging and battery-swapping infrastructure; assesses future power-load needs and coordinates power procurement with DISCOMs
Environment Department	Quantifies emission reductions from new EV registrations; develops a transparent evaluation methodology; enforces Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 compliance by OEMs
Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC)	Facilitates PPP-based battery collection centres; notifies SOPs for safe battery collection, storage, transport, and transfer to authorised recyclers/PROs
Urban Local Bodies (MCD, DDA, Delhi Cantonment Board, NDMC, PWD, DUSIB, Revenue Department, other land-owning agencies)	Identify suitable land parcels for charging/swapping infrastructure on a periodic basis; ensure all new civil infrastructure projects are EV-charging-ready with adequate electrical capacity
Education Department	Ensures compliance with the school bus electrification mandate; integrates it into school recognition/affiliation processes; runs awareness campaigns in schools on air pollution and clean mobility
District Magistrates, via Revenue Department	Facilitate identification, aggregation, and availability of land parcels for priority public infrastructure, including EV charging/swapping facilities
High-Powered Committee (Chaired by Chief Secretary, GNCTD)	Oversees planning and deployment of charging/swapping infrastructure across departments
Delhi EV Apex Committee (Chaired by Hon’ble Minister, Transport)	Oversees overall policy implementation, approves operational guidelines, manages the EV Fund, and recommends decisions on clean-fuel vehicle induction to the Council of Ministers

10. The EV Fund: How Delhi Is Paying for All This

Section 11 establishes a dedicated EV Fund, maintained under the Transport Department, to cover all operational and implementation expenses related to charging and swapping infrastructure development (Clause 5.1). Its sources may include:

• State budgetary allocations
• Central and State Government schemes and grants
• The Air Ambience Fund
• The Environment Compensation Charge (ECC)
• PM E-DRIVE scheme contributions
• Cess, taxes, and any other approved source

Spending under this Fund will follow the latest applicable Delegation of Financial Powers Rules — standard government financial-control language, but worth knowing if you’re a vendor or infrastructure partner expecting payments from this Fund.

11. Digital, Paperless Implementation

Section 9 mandates that every implementation step — applications, approvals, verification, disbursement, reporting, and grievance redressal — must run through a fully paperless digital system. If you’ve dealt with subsidy delays under older EV schemes, this clause is Delhi’s direct attempt to close that gap through an online, DBT-first process.

12. “Who Gets What” — A Direct Lookup Table

Buyer Category	What They Get Under This Delhi EV Policy 2026
Individual two-wheeler buyer	Up to ₹30,000 purchase incentive (Year 1, scaling down over 3 years) + ₹10,000 scrapping bonus if replacing a BS-IV-or-below scooter/bike + lifetime 100% road tax and registration fee exemption
Individual buying an e-auto (L5M)	Flat ₹50,000–₹30,000 purchase incentive depending on year + ₹25,000 scrapping bonus for an old CNG/petrol auto + lifetime road tax/registration exemption
Individual/proprietary buyer of an N1 goods vehicle	₹1,00,000–₹50,000 (heavier N1) or ₹50,000–₹25,000 (lighter N1) purchase incentive by year + ₹50,000 scrapping bonus + lifetime road tax/registration exemption
Private electric car buyer (≤₹30 lakh)	100% road tax and registration fee exemption till 31 March 2030 + ₹1,00,000 scrapping bonus if scrapping an old BS-IV-or-below Delhi-registered car (capped at first 1,00,000 applicants); no separate purchase subsidy exists
Private electric car buyer (>₹30 lakh)	No road tax/registration exemption, no scrapping incentive tied to the ₹30 lakh cap
Gramin Sewa vehicle owner	₹15,000 scrapping incentive when upgrading to a new Li-ion-equipped e-Gramin Sewa vehicle (D+6/D+7)
Fleet operators / delivery & cab aggregators	No purchase subsidy specified for aggregator fleets specifically, but bound by the 1 January 2026 mandate barring new ICE inductions into LCV/N1-LGV/2W fleets
First 1,000 private N2 e-truck buyers (registered within 3 months of notification)	10-year exemption from Delhi’s no-entry timing restrictions
GNCTD departments, MCD, NDMC, Delhi Cantonment Board	Mandatory electric-only procurement for hired/leased non-transport light vehicles, new intra-state buses, and all N1/N2/N3 trucks & M2/M3 passenger vehicles
All schools in Delhi	Bound by the phased 10% → 20% → 30% school bus electrification mandate through 2030

13. The Bottom Line

The Delhi Electric Vehicles Policy, 2026 is less about splashy new subsidy numbers and more about binding timelines — 1 January 2027 for three-wheelers and N1 goods carriers, 1 April 2028 for two-wheelers, and an already-active fleet-aggregator mandate dated 1 January 2026. Layer on top of that a genuinely institutional approach: DTL as the single nodal charging-infrastructure agency, a Chief-Secretary-led High-Powered Committee, an EV Apex Committee under the Transport Minister, and a full battery-recycling framework running through DPCC and the Environment Department.

For everyday buyers, the calculus is simple: two-wheeler, e-auto, and N1 goods vehicle purchases are most rewarding in Year 1 of the policy, since every incentive slab declines in Years 2 and 3. Car buyers, meanwhile, should focus on the ₹30 lakh price threshold and the scrapping-linked ₹1 lakh bonus — and apply early, since that bonus is capped at the first 1,00,000 applicants across the entire city.

This article is based directly on the Delhi Electric Vehicles Policy, 2026, as notified in the Delhi Gazette (Extraordinary), Part IV, No. 169, dated 30 June 2026. For binding legal interpretation, always refer to the official gazette notification and subsequent operational guidelines issued by the Transport Department, GNCTD.

14. Frequently Asked Questions