Delhi Government and World Resources Institute, India (WRI India) Launche Step-by-step Guidebook for EV Charging in Malls

• Top malls in Delhi commit to install EV charging points in 5% of their parking capacity in next 6 months, approx. 1000 new charging points to be added in shopping malls in 6 months
• Kejriwal Government becomes the first state govt to launch a step-by-step guide to promote charging of EVs at shopping malls
• In addition to incentives and the step-by-step guidebook, the Delhi government will also provide hand-holding support through the state EV Cell to all malls that commit to achieving the target of installing EV chargers for 5% of their parking slots in the next 6 months: Jasmine Shah, VC, DDC
• Shopping mall operators are always looking for various new ways of improving footfall in their malls and installing EV chargers is a great addition to the services: Abhishek Bansal, Executive Director, Pacific Malls
• We are committed to not just providing EV charging facility but also to collaborating with Delhi Government for increasing awareness about EVs among our consumers: Pushpa Bector, Executive Vice President & Head, DLF Shopping Malls

NEW DELHI:

The Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi (DDC), in partnership with World Resources Institute, India (WRI India), released the ‘Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Guidebook for Shopping Malls in Delhi’ today to simplify and enable adoption of EV charging at shopping malls in Delhi. With this launch, Delhi has become the first state in the country to come up with a step-by-step guide to help shopping malls adopt charging of EVs in their parking space. 

The guidebook was launched in the presence of Shri Jasmine Shah, Vice-Chairperson, DDC Delhi, Shri Amit Bhatt, Executive Director (Integrated Transport), WRI India and representatives of various shopping malls/associations in Delhi. Shopping mall representatives welcomed Delhi government’s initiative of promoting EVs and expressed their support to installing EV chargers in their malls for at least 5% of their parking space in the next 6 months.

Providing EV charging facility can benefit shopping malls through increased footfall, increased time spent by customers, improved visibility, boost to their ‘green’ image, improved customer loyalty and it can potentially be an additional revenue stream for the mall owners. The released document guides shopping mall owners in understanding the importance of EV charging, assessing the scope for EV charging, details the processes involved for effective decision-making and sets out the way forward for the planning and implementation of EV charging stations in the parking of malls.

The Delhi Government announced the Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy in August 2020, with a vision to promote the adoption of electric vehicles in the city and to make Delhi the EV Capital of India. The policy aims to improve Delhi’s air quality by driving the transition to electric vehicles so that they can reach 25% of all new vehicle registrations by 2024. 

In his keynote address, Shri Jasmine Shah said, “Every city in the world that has made a mass-scale jump towards e-mobility, did so at the back of strong charging infrastructure. Besides this, we need to ensure that every place that a vehicle stops at has a charging point - be it offices, residences or malls. Such a radical shift has been envisioned in Delhi Government’s EV Policy aimed at making Delhi the EV capital of India. 

Encouraging shopping mall owners to take advantage of the new opportunities created by the Delhi government, he said, “Shopping malls are our partners in pushing the agenda for e-mobility and reduced pollution. In addition to incentives and the step-by-step guidebook launched today, Delhi government will also provide hand-holding support through the state EV Cell to all malls that commit to achieving the target of installing EV chargers for 5% of their parking slots in the next 6 months.”

Amit Bhatt said, “Apart from the availability of chargers, one of the major issues surrounding charging of EVs is their charging time. Therefore, multitasking vehicle charging with other activities can be a win-win proposition and one way to do it would be during shopping. That is because an average customer spends around 90 minutes in a Delhi shopping mall. So, having an extensive EV charging infrastructure in shopping malls would help customers in charging their vehicles without wasting any additional time.” 

Mukesh Kumar, Chairman, Shopping Centres Association of India (SCAI) lauded Delhi government for the initiative and commended the guidebook for being meticulously planned, comprehensive and easily implementable.

Abhishek Bansal. Executive Director, Pacific Malls said that shopping mall operators are always looking for various new ways of improving footfall in the mall and installing EV chargers is a great addition to the services. He said, “Pacific Malls is already aligned with the futuristic vision of the Hon’ble CM of Delhi of making Delhi less polluted. We have operationalised 9 EV charging stations and are installing another 6 charging stations.”

Yogeshwar Sharma, Executive Director, Select Citywalk extended his complete support to the initiative and said that the mall intends to target putting chargers for EVs beyond just 5% of the parking space.

Pushpa Bector, Executive Vice President & Head, DLF Shopping Malls appreciated the guidebook for being very informative and for the adaptable business models therein. She said, “We are committed to not just providing EV charging facility but also to collaborating with Delhi Government for increasing awareness about EVs among our consumers.”

Under Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy 2020, Delhi Government has taken several steps to include various stakeholders in making Delhi the EV capital of India, including being the first state to provide subsidies to private entities (shopping malls, office complexes, RWAs etc.) for installation of 30,000 EV chargers, directing all commercial establishments with a parking capacity of 100 or more vehicles to reserve 5% of their parking space for EVs with suitable EV chargers, and the launch of a single-window facility to enable the installation of EV charging points in private and semi-public spaces in the city. The single-window facility has made the installation of EV charging points in Delhi very convenient and charging points can be installed within 7 days in malls or any commercial area for as low as INR 2,495 for slow chargers. Delhi also has most progressive tariff for EV charging in the country. Before the guidebook for EV charging in shopping malls, DDC had also released a guidebook to promote workplace charging of Electric Vehicles (EV) for the corporates in Delhi in November 2021.

Owing to these progressive decisions, Delhi is witnessing a rapid transition to electric vehicles. Between September and November 2021, EVs accounted for 9% of the vehicle sales in Delhi, while the national average was 1.6%. 

Explore the full guidebook here: https://ddc.delhi.gov.in/promoting-ev-charging-at-shopping-malls/