The delivery market in India is booming. Until a few years ago, the only items that were delivered at home through the mail were letters, bills, and long-distance packages, but as time has passed, online orders have joined them. Electronics, fashion, books, consumer goods, groceries, cooked food—anything we could possibly want—can now be ordered online and delivered to our doorsteps. E-commerce has revolutionised the way people buy goods.

The policy by far presents itself as the most comprehensive sub-national policy that adopts a system-wide approach to promote the adoption of EVs. Anchored to the objectives of reducing air pollution in the city, the policy targets three critical areas to trigger market adoption of EVs: Demand generation; demand assurance, and infrastructure creation.

Measures to improve air quality and reduce emissions have never been more urgent. Across India, levels of particulate pollution have increased by 69 per cent over the past twenty years. According to the University of Chicago, exposure to air pollution in Delhi is shortening the life expectancy of residents by a decade.

The transportation system of the future is expected to meet the diverse needs of all citizens using clean technologies and shared services. These services will operate on optimised routes and schedules, in cities designed and regulated to support the efficient and safe movement of people.

The rapid rise of technology interventions across the computing and telecommunications space has digitised our world and transformed our personal and professional lives significantly. We are now witnessing a revolution in global energy systems built on the foundation of fossil fuels similar to the Industrial Revolution.

The Government of India has been taking various steps to drive the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in India for the past few years. However, the sales of electric cars in the country continue to be very low—only around 3,500 a year—as compared to those of conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) cars.

Bangalore, like many cities across India, is witnessing significant growth in mobility demand driven by rapid urbanization and growing incomes. This growth is straining an already burdened transportation system, resulting in many economic and environmental issues. Bangalore will need to develop and deploy shared, clean, and citizen-centric mobility solutions to ensure this demand is met in a sustainable manner that provides safe, accessible, and reliable transportation for citizens.

The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has been working in India for the past five years, supporting government and business leaders with the country’s energy transition. Over the past year, RMI has witnessed the challenging problems of Delhi’s infamous congestion and toxic air pollution—the latter of which has led to 4 in 10 of the city’s children suffering from air pollution-related respiratory ailments.

In one of the most progressive measures to address severe air pollution in Delhi NCR region, the government has approved the long-awaited Delhi Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy recently. The first draft of the policy was released in November 2018 and was welcomed by industry, intelligentsia and academicians.

The transport sector is a significant and growing contributor to spiking air pollution in India. In 2015, transportation tailpipe emissions attributed to 1800 premature deaths in New Delhi. Recently, New Delhi announced its draft electric mobility policy. Electric mobility is considered a major opportunity to improve air quality in India. E-mobility solutions are essential for reducing emissions from the transport sector – both for air pollution and climate change.