Delhi's Electric Vehicle Dream Confronts Harsh Reality on the Road
Seventy-two-year-old Purshottam Kalra was driving along the Mumbai Expressway when his electric vehicle's dashboard flashed a warning: "Battery Low." Spotting a charging station near Rajgarh, he pulled in with hope—only to find three cars already waiting in line, their engines silent. The station had no electricity.
Forty-five agonizing minutes crawled by under the scorching sun before power finally flickered back to life. For Kalra, it was a frustrating reminder of a similar ordeal near Haridwar eighteen months earlier, when he added ₹1,500 to an app but received only ₹500 worth of charge. This time, a different company and app yielded the same result: money deducted, charge incomplete, and no customer support available. "There was no network at the station," he recalls. "I had to drive further to download the app."
The Core Problem: Fragmented Infrastructure and Too Many Apps
"The biggest problem," says Kalra, "is that different chargers use different apps, and there are too few stations. Charging takes a lot of time and planning a trip is stressful. I wish there were a single payment card for all EV chargers. With my CNG car, our driver just swipes a card and gets fuel. One card for all EV chargers should exist."
Kalra's experience starkly illustrates the gap between Delhi's ambitious electric vehicle push and the gritty reality of life on the road. In 2025, Delhi sold 70,875 pure electric vehicles—a significant leap, yet still a small fraction of the total market. EVs now account for 6.7% of new vehicle registrations, up sharply from just 0.3% the previous year.
Detailed breakdown of the growth:
- Private electric car registrations grew from 3,848 to 9,905 between January and September.
- Electric two-wheeler sales barely budged, moving from 26,613 to 27,028.
Despite this progress, petrol vehicles continue to dominate Delhi's roads. The city's EV policy is widely regarded as India's most progressive, aiming for one in every four new vehicles sold to be electric. The upcoming EV Policy 2.0 even proposes a ₹50,000 incentive for converting petrol or diesel cars to EVs—the first initiative of its kind in India.
Real-World Performance Falls Short of Promises
Yet, real-world performance often disappoints. Cars claiming a 330km range frequently deliver only 250-300km in actual driving conditions. For many drivers, city trips are manageable. Amit Soni, who uses his EV as his only car for daily commutes, enjoys the lower running costs and smooth rides. "It's cheaper than petrol for short trips," he says.
But the moment he considers a longer journey, the comfort fades. Finding a station, juggling multiple apps, and worrying about money stuck in digital wallets make planning stressful. "Until the infrastructure improves, most households will still keep a petrol car as a backup," he admits.
Experts Outline the Path Forward
Anil Chikkara, former transport commissioner, explains the necessary steps: "Many EV chargers serve only one or two cars at a time. To accelerate adoption, we need more stations, especially outside city limits. Standardising connectors and introducing a single payment system could simplify charging. Government-regularised apps can work well. Above all, electrifying public transport should take priority before focusing solely on private EVs."
Chikkara adds a crucial perspective: "While EVs are environmentally friendly, an increase in the number of cars on the road is never a good outcome for any city or country, as it only adds to congestion."
Another expert emphasizes: "While we were able to minimise diesel, petrol is still there and the EV push needs to be strengthened. This heavy reliance on personal petrol vehicles also suggests that while overall sales are rising, Delhi's congestion and pollution challenges are likely to worsen rather than improve."
Early Adopters Remain Cautious About Long Trips
Even those who benefited from subsidies and enjoy city rides remain cautious. Tarun Dalima, one of the first 1,000 EV buyers under Delhi's incentive scheme, says his city journeys are seamless. "Driving within Delhi is fantastic. Charging at home is easy. But I won't take it on inter-city trips yet. Sparse stations, unpredictable infrastructure and breakdowns that normal mechanics can't repair make long trips stressful. A hybrid option would make it much less worrying."
The challenge is clear: as of April 2025, India had just 5,200 EV stations covering a 146,200km highway network. Long-distance trips require meticulous planning—checking station locations, topping up multiple digital wallets, timing charges precisely—and even then, drivers face unexpected delays and network issues.
Multiple operators force owners to download five to ten different apps just to access the chargers they need. Despite their environmental benefits and lower running costs, the experiences of Kalra, Soni, and Dalima all show one thing clearly: EVs are not yet the first choice for most Delhi drivers. Still struggling with app chaos, unreliable charging, and inadequate infrastructure, electric vehicles often sit alongside a petrol car rather than replacing it.
