Written by PPL Newsroom• October 4, 2026• 2:31 pm• Policy

Delhi gets Centre’s nod for 382 EV charging sites; first tenders due soon

The Ministry of Heavy Industries cleared the sites, and the city will tender 160–180 power-ready locations first, ahead of 2027 and 2028 electric registration mandates.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) has approved 382 sites for electric vehicle charging in Delhi, Power Minister Ashish Sood said on Sunday, 4 October 2026. The city plans to float a tender soon for the first 160 to 180 sites. This is the infrastructure side of a policy that will soon require many new vehicles in the capital to be electric.

The numbers behind the approval

According to Sood’s statement, the Revenue Department and the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) had identified 456 sites, of which the MHI approved 382. The Indian Express, as reported by BioEnergy Times, adds that another 49 sites were identified separately through the DTC.

Under the Delhi EV Policy, all 382 sites were reassessed over the past three months. Each was categorised for two-wheelers, three-wheelers or four-wheelers. In practice, a site meant for scooters and one meant for delivery vans will be planned differently.

The first tender will cover 160 to 180 “high-readiness” sites, prioritising locations with confirmed power availability and grid feasibility. Sites where electricity is already available can be built faster. The government has also onboarded KPMG as its Project Management Unit.

Why the timing matters

The site assessment was designed to support upcoming legal deadlines. According to Sood, these include 100 per cent electric registrations for three-wheelers and N1 light commercial vehicles from 1 January 2027, and for two-wheelers from 1 April 2028. N1 vehicles are small goods carriers. Without enough public chargers, owners of these vehicles would struggle to switch.

The policy seeks at least 30 per cent electrification of the city’s vehicle fleet by 2030. Officials told The Indian Express that electric two-wheeler registrations rose 30 per cent in the policy’s first three months. The comparison is July–September against April–June. Two-wheelers matter most here because they account for nearly two-thirds of Delhi’s vehicle fleet.

The policy also offers purchase incentives. In the first year, buyers get Rs 10,000 per kWh, capped at Rs 30,000. The incentive steps down in later years. Sood argued that subsidies alone are not enough, saying a true EV revolution cannot rely solely on short-term financial payouts.

What this means for India

Delhi’s approach shows how a city can pair sales incentives with a charging plan. It has used public land, bus depots and central approval, and it sorts sites by vehicle type. The 2027 and 2028 registration deadlines give the tender a fixed timeline. Other Indian cities weighing similar targets can watch how quickly the first 160–180 sites are awarded and built. They can also see how well segment-wise planning matches real demand. The policy also requires Delhi to submit proposals to the MHI under PM-DRIVE and other central schemes, so state and Centre are working together on this.

What happens next

The tender for the first tranche is the next step. Sood’s statement did not give a date for it or for when the first chargers will be running. The statement also gave no cost figures or charger counts per site. Those details will probably emerge in the tender documents. Delhi has attempted large charging tenders before. In 2021, the city floated a tender for 100 charging stations with 500 charging points in total. The new plan is considerably larger in the number of locations.