6 min readJul 3, 2026 06:19 AM IST
First published on: Jul 3, 2026 at 06:19 AM IST
Over the past few years, we have witnessed a troubling disconnect between scientific evidence and policy implementation in the country. First, the weak enforcement of the fuel-ban policy for end-of-life vehicles undermined its intended impact. Then, the draft Electric Vehicles (EV) Policy 2.0 raised serious concerns among environmentalists by proposing to extend EV incentives to hybrid vehicles. While hybrids combine petrol engines with electric motors, they remain dependent on fossil fuels and cannot deliver the full environmental and public-health benefits of zero-emission mobility.
Against this backdrop, the Delhi government’s latest initiative marks a step in the right direction by targeting emissions at their source rather than targeting the open sky. It offers renewed hope for sustained improvements in air quality. The push for the EV policy 2.0 might shrink the urban carbon footprint, and the purification of local air could help alleviate concerns over respiratory and other non-communicable diseases that affect a substantial section of the city’s population. For the metropolis, which juggles a staggering fleet of over 15 million vehicles, transitioning to electric mobility is no longer just an environmental aspiration; it is a public health imperative.
The Delhi emission inventory database in the National Institute of Advanced Study’s (NIAS) 2025 policy brief reveals that the transport sector accounted for 41 per cent of the city’s most deadly air pollutant, PM 2.5, in 2024. The new policy will unfold in two phases. Starting January 1, 2027, the city will completely halt the registration of conventional three-wheelers and light goods vehicles, permitting only electric models. From April 1, 2028, only electric two-wheelers will be allowed to register.
Two-wheelers contribute 20 per cent, whereas three-wheelers contribute less than 5 per cent of transport emissions. Currently, almost half of the three-wheelers are already non-fossil fuel, so their contribution is not 17-20 per cent as estimated by earlier studies, including the one by TERI in 2018. So, the overall gain with 100 per cent EV conversion of these three categories of vehicles would be 35 per cent of total transport, which will translate to just 15 per cent of Delhi’s PM 2.5 concentration — this is a good initiative, but it won’t lead to drastic improvement.
However, a balanced perspective is one of the fundamental requirements of science. Studies conducted by the NIAS show that this policy is merely the first battle in a much larger war. While the present policy is a good start, to truly clear the air, subsequent policies must tackle the two heaviest polluters: Heavy commercial vehicles and buses, which command around 60 per cent of transport emissions. Tackling pollution from their tailpipes could reduce Delhi’s PM 2.5 by 20-25 per cent.
The number of commercial vehicles and buses might be low, but their emissions are higher compared to those from two-wheelers and cars. Policymakers need to prioritise targets based on the most polluting fleet. Transforming commercial vehicles to EVs will yield the maximum benefit. However, practical challenges need to be assessed.
The public-health payoffs of this structural shift are monumental. According to an NIAS policy brief, adoption of EVs would avert 800 premature deaths annually because cleaner air would reduce diseases linked to vehicle emissions, such as heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and respiratory illnesses. It will save 12,000 years lost to disability every year. In other words, Delhi’s population would collectively gain the equivalent of 12,000 additional healthy years of life every year through reduced illness and premature death. Beyond the intrinsic value of human life, this transition makes undeniable economic sense. According to the NIAS study in 2025, transitioning two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and light commercial vehicles fully to electric power could save at least Rs 1,000 crore every year in averted medical expenses, reduced hospital admissions, and recovered economic productivity. When weighed against the Delhi government’s pledge to invest Rs 15,000 crore in the EV policy over the next four years, the return on investment becomes clear. The state’s entire four-year financial commitment to subsidies and infrastructure is likely to be offset soon. However, this needs to be extended to other vehicle categories firmly to get early returns.
The success of the policy will require sustained investment. Its true environmental and physiological rewards will mature over years rather than months. Policymakers will need to stay the course and demonstrate political will. Air pollution does not recognise election cycles. For Delhi to witness a permanent transformation, these mandates must be agnostic to political shifts, and public health needs to be given top priority.
The government also needs to give serious thought to phasing out CNG. After all, its use all involves combustion and, therefore, pollution — especially of NOx. Such pollution needs to be curbed.
This is the time for deliberate, science-aligned, and phased policy-making (as underlined by the National Air Quality Resource Framework of India) — one that sets clear targets and ensures that interim measures do not undermine long-term goals. If we truly care about clean air, we must get the priorities and the timelines right. We understand that transport bears an enormous responsibility for pollution’s stranglehold on our cities, and we have finally made a good start. Now, we must summon the courage and political will to leap to the ultimate solution, attack the source directly, rather than languish in the mediocrity of transitional technologies.
In a city gasping for every breath of clean air, our survival may well depend on the choices we make today.
The writer is chair professor, NIAS, IISc-campus, and founder, SAFAR
Delhi government’s latest initiative marks a step in the right direction by targeting emissions at their source rather than targeting the open sky. (ANI/File) 
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