Electrify Your Diesel Car and Bypass The NGT Ban: Here’s How To

As you may know, according to National Green Tribunal (NGT)’s 2015 order, all diesel vehicles older than 10 years are banned or prohibited from plying on Delhi roads. So, if you have a diesel car that’s old but still in a good condition, this looming ban must be worrying you. Well, fret not, as the saying goes, “Where There is a Will There is a Way.”

The good news is that the Delhi government has come up with a workaround for you to bypass this NGT ban.

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Delhi is now open to ICE to electric retrofitting! Vehicles if found fit can convert their diesel to electric engine, dept'll empanel manufacturers of pure electric kit by approved testing agencies. Once empanelled this'll enable vehicles to continue plying here beyond 10 yrs.

— Kailash Gahlot (@kgahlot) November 18, 2021

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So, if you have an old diesel car, there’s a chance that you can electrify it now. Or in other words, upgrade the combustion powertrain to a zero-emission electric set-up and you’ve got an EV that you can run on the Delhi roads. The process is called retrofitting. And here’s how it can be done:

How to Convert a Diesel Car to an Electric Vehicle

Before we delve into the retrofitting method, know that each vehicle (depending on its size) will get a unique ICE vehicle retrofitting kit. It can be installed in your car by professionals certified by the makers or suppliers of the kits.

And not everybody can be a kit manufacturer either. They must have an eligibility certificate from the authorized test body. The Delhi government will be releasing a list of these eligible kit manufacturers.

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Once all that’s checked, here’s how to retrofit an electric drivetrain to a diesel car:

1. All the ICE components of your diesel car such as engine, fuel tank, exhaust, and drivetrain will be removed. So, what’s left are the chassis, lower arm, among a few other things.

2.  Now it’s time to install an electric motor, a battery pack, a power controller, a recharging system, a high-voltage wiring circuit, and a few other things.

Now, the cost of current solutions in the market falls in the neighborhood of ₹1 lakh to ₹4 lakhs with options of a lease in some cases. Although the prices might sound high, note that the overall cost over a period of use would be less since EVs don’t require frequent fuel expenditure.