Delhi’s new Electric Vehicle Policy offers a glimpse into how megacities approach mobility transitions when air quality, climate, affordability, infrastructure, energy systems, and urban growth all move together.

Delhi’s done this before when change was required. The move to CNG in the early 2000s was one such moment. The shift to BS-VI fuel standards followed as air quality concerns intensified. The Electric Vehicle Policy in 2020 was another step, and since then, Delhi has emerged as one of India’s leading EV markets, particularly for two-wheelers and public buses. The Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy 2026 now feels different.

Not simply because it sets ambitious electrification mandates never explored at scale as regulatory requirements: 2027 for all 3-wheelers, including passenger and freight, and 2028 for all 2-wheelers, alongside progressive targets for other segments. What’s different this time is that the policy seems to look beyond vehicles themselves, combining incentives with clearer regulatory direction. It begins to treat electrification as something that depends on the wider system moving with it, while signalling where the market is expected to move and how the transition will be governed. And that’s the more meaningful shift. Electrification increasingly sits at the intersection of public health, energy security, everyday livelihoods and operating economics, with cleaner air and climate becoming co-benefits of a much wider urban transition.

This is reflected in clearer pathways for high-use vehicle segments, alongside stronger implementation, infrastructure, and governance. Vehicular emissions remain a major contributor to Delhi’s air pollution burden. According to the Commission for Air Quality Management, transport contributes roughly 23% of Delhi’s winter PM2.5 load. That makes this much more than a transport policy. It becomes a public health, energy and economic question all at once.

WHAT FEELS DIFFERENT THIS TIME

A few shifts stand out. Perhaps the biggest is that the policy now pays as much attention to usage as to ownership. Two-wheelers account for roughly two-thirds of Delhi’s vehicle fleet, while three-wheelers, commercial vehicles, delivery fleets and buses account for a disproportionate share of daily movement and emissions. Prioritising those segments reflects how people and goods actually move through the city, rather than how transport systems are sometimes imagined.

While incentives remain, the policy increasingly combines them with phased electrification mandates across high-use vehicle segments and clearer expectations for commercial, public and government fleets. It also pays greater attention to the systems around those vehicles, treating electrification as a systems transition rather than simply a vehicle transition. And that’s where the policy feels most grounded.

A WIDER QUESTION

And perhaps this is where the conversation begins well beyond Delhi. Delhi matters because it responds to conditions increasingly familiar across many rapidly urbanising places. Across Asia, Africa, Latin America and elsewhere, mobility systems are rarely defined by a single mode of transport. Two- and three-wheelers and cars sit alongside buses, metros, suburban rail, shared mobility, delivery fleets and informal or para-transit serving crucial first- and last-mile connectivity. Affordability, energy, climate and air quality, infrastructure and institutional coordination will all shape how these transitions unfold.

According to the United Nations, around two-thirds of global population growth through 2050 is expected to occur in urban areas, much of it across Asia and Africa. The World Bank similarly points to continued rapid urbanisation across Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, while Latin America’s challenge increasingly lies in renewing existing urban systems. Different starting points, but a similar reality: many of tomorrow’s mobility transitions will unfold while cities themselves are still evolving. The more interesting question is how these transitions are designed. Much of the world’s future urban expansion will occur where transport systems, energy networks and urban infrastructure are evolving together. The challenge is less about replacing one technology than about designing the transition while many surrounding systems are still being built.

And that’s why Delhi deserves a closer look. Not because others are likely to replicate this policy completely, but because it offers a window into the kinds of transitions many rapidly urbanising places are likely to face.

LOOKING ELSEWHERE

Of course, no single blueprint exists for how places make these transitions. For instance, California leaned on long-term regulatory signals and phase-out timelines to create market certainty. Shenzhen demonstrated what sustained public investment could achieve for fleet electrification, while Bogotá showed how electric mobility could reinforce wider public transport reform. Santiago highlighted the value of public procurement for bus electrification, while Jakarta is showing how two-wheelers can shape wider mobility transitions.

There is no one-size-fits-all strategy. Every city has approached electrification through a distinct pathway. Delhi’s contribution, if implementation holds well, may bring several transition pathways together rather than addressing them sequentially. Cleaner mobility, public health, affordability, infrastructure and institutional coordination increasingly become parts of the same transition rather than separate conversations. That does not make Delhi representative of every place, but it does make many of the questions it is addressing relevant well beyond Delhi and India.

WHERE POLICY MEETS REALITY

Of course, this is where policies are tested. Setting direction is one thing. Getting the wider system to move with it is another. Charging infrastructure is probably the most immediate example. Delhi has already learnt that vehicle adoption and charging rollout do not always move together. The policy gives greater clarity around implementation, but whether charging is reliable and accessible will ultimately depend on execution.

Finance is another layer. For many households and commercial operators, particularly in the two- and three-wheeler segments, the question is less about willingness than upfront affordability. Savings matter but so do purchase costs, loan terms and access to credit.  And then there is the grid. Large-scale EV adoption changes not only how much electricity is consumed but when. Without managed charging and local network readiness, new pressures simply shift from roads to the power system.

And finally, there are people. Mechanics. Drivers. Dealers. Fleet owners. Small operators. Informal service providers. Many have built businesses and livelihoods around today’s mobility economy. Transitions of this scale only succeed when people feel they have a place within them. The policy acknowledges many of these challenges, even if it cannot resolve them all at the outset. And that’s inevitable. Transitions like these are shaped as much by what is learnt through implementation as by policy design.

While it’s too early to describe this policy as a model, it’s certainly not too early to recognise that the questions it is addressing are not Delhi’s alone. They are increasingly familiar across rapidly urbanising places where transport systems, energy networks and urban infrastructure evolve together. That does not make Delhi representative of every place, but it does make these questions relevant to the larger puzzle of shaping healthier, more resilient and liveable cities.

The transition is already underway. The more interesting question is how workable, inclusive and sustained it becomes on the ground. And Delhi, like many other places worldwide, no longer has the luxury of moving slowly on this one.

(The article has been authored by Sanjiv Gopal, Chief of Strategy & Planning at Asar, and Siddharth Sreenivas, Regional Coordinator (South Asia), Clean Mobility Collective)