Nearly 16,900 heavy-duty trucks entering Delhi daily generate 23% of the city’s transport emissions
This rises to 61% at night, underscoring the urgency of electrifying freight.
A new report flags four key toll plazas as strategic control points.
Researchers urge EV-based freight, better logistics planning and coordinated NCR policies to curb rapidly growing freight-related pollution.
India’s push towards electric vehicles (EV) could be crucial for cleaning up freight transport, as nearly 16,900 heavy-duty vehicles enter Delhi every day and account for 23 per cent of the city's daily transport emissions, according to a new report. The contribution of these vehicles rises sharply to 61 per cent during early morning and nighttime hours, highlighting the disproportionate role of freight traffic in the capital's pollution burden.
The findings were published in the report Towards Cleaner Freight in Delhi: Assessing Interstate Truck Emissions and Mitigation Strategies by the Air Pollution Action Group (APAG), the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). The report also identifies four toll plazas, Kundli, Rajokri, Badarpur and Tikri, that could influence more than 50 per cent of all truck entries into the city, suggesting strategic locations for targeted emission reduction measures.
The findings come as India’s EV transition gathers pace, with registrations crossing 2.3 million vehicles in 2025 and EVs accounting for a record 10.8 per cent share of vehicle sales. Experts said freight transport, one of the fastest-growing sources of emissions and oil demand, presents a major opportunity for electrification, particularly in urban and regional operations where routes are predictable and charging infrastructure can be planned more efficiently.
The report highlighted the outsized impact of heavy-duty vehicles on Delhi's transport emissions despite their relatively smaller share in overall traffic volumes. Experts said the concentration of truck traffic through a handful of entry points offers an opportunity for focused interventions.
Speaking at the report launch on June 29, 2026, Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment, said Delhi has made progress in improving truck emission standards but continues to struggle with ageing and highly polluting vehicles.
"While we do have an option now of replacing old trucks with incentives, the instruments that are needed to identify end-of-life vehicles efficiently and target gross polluters are still the big problem that we have to address," she said.
The report also points to persistent freight management challenges. Warehouses and logistics hubs continue to be concentrated within and around urban centres, despite the development of bypass infrastructure such as the Eastern Peripheral Expressway and Western Peripheral Expressway.
Other experts said better freight planning, including relocation of logistics hubs outside city limits and improved coordination across the National Capital Region, could significantly reduce congestion and emissions.
With India's freight demand of around 1,000 million tonnes projected to increase fivefold over the next two decades, the sector requires urgent decarbonisation measures.
Transport accounts for about a sixth of India's energy-related carbon dioxide emissions and is the country's third largest energy-consuming sector after industry and residential use. Road transport contributes about 94 per cent of transport sector emissions, while nearly 93 per cent of transport energy demand is met through oil and gas.
According to experts at another dialogue on financing India’s EV transition on June 25, electric mobility could reduce 3.84 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, equivalent to India's current economy-wide emissions.
However, they warned that policy uncertainty continues to hamper the pace of adoption. "There is no clarity in policy. One ministry is promoting electric vehicles while another is promoting biofuels. We need an integrated mobility policy," said Debajit Palit, centre head, Climate Change and Energy Transition, Chintan Research Foundation.
Another expert questioned whether policymakers have clearly defined the primary objective of the EV transition.
"What is the public policy question which EV transition is trying to address? Is it energy security, air quality, jobs or attracting investment? If we try to achieve all these outcomes simultaneously, we will probably not achieve any of them," he said.
Industry representatives identified financing and charging infrastructure as among the biggest barriers to scaling electric mobility. India currently has around 25,000 charging points compared with more than 100,000 fossil fuel retail outlets. Experts noted that many charging stations have been installed ahead of demand and continue to suffer from low utilisation.
Industry data shows that India has 3.4 electric light-duty vehicles per public charging point, compared with 12.8 in Europe and 32.6 in the United States.
Financing challenges are particularly acute in commercial vehicle segments. Lenders remain concerned about battery performance, resale values and the absence of a mature secondary market for used EVs.
"The biggest issue remains the residual value," said IV Rao, distinguished fellow, TERI, adding that better battery monitoring and asset tracking systems could help improve lender confidence.
Devendra Chawla, MD & CEO, GreenCell Mobility Pvt Ltd, noted that even a 3 per cent non-performing asset rate can significantly affect profitability, making lenders cautious about expanding EV portfolios.
Finance experts stressed that the economics of ownership and operation will ultimately determine the success of the EV transition. Public charging can cost around three times more than home charging, reducing the operating cost advantage of EVs Around 95 per cent of charging for two-wheelers and three-wheelers currently takes place at home because of lower electricity tariffs.
Consumer concerns also persist. Referring to recent survey findings, experts noted that 51 per cent of EV owners reported considering a switch back to petrol vehicles because of range anxiety, inadequate charging infrastructure, high insurance premiums and repair challenges.
Experts outlined several measures to accelerate EV adoption and reduce freight emissions. They called for a coherent national mobility strategy that aligns transport, energy and industrial policies. Participants also advocated focusing incentives on high utilisation segments such as buses, commercial fleets and freight transport, where the economics of electrification are already becoming viable.
The development of interoperable charging infrastructure emerged as another priority. "Are you paying from Google Pay to only Google Pay? Or from PhonePe to only PhonePe? You have a common architecture, and you can use any app to transfer or make a transaction to any other app. It should be democratic," said Abhishek Ranjan, CEO, BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd, arguing for a digital public infrastructure approach to EV charging.
Researchers also highlighted the need for smart charging systems, time-based electricity tariffs and vehicle-to-grid technologies that can help balance electricity demand while lowering infrastructure costs.
For freight transport, they recommended developing dedicated charging infrastructure along major freight corridors, creating logistics hubs outside city centres and supporting pilot projects for electric trucks operating on predictable routes.