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Why mandating EVs for gig workers can be a policy mistake

Regulations that do not understand the sector’s functioning and impose unnecessary costs will stifle its growth potential.

Last month, Haryana became the latest state to codify the Commission for Air Quality Management’s mandate requiring all new vehicles added to e-commerce fleets across food delivery, ride-hailing, and quick commerce in Delhi-NCR to run on CNG or electricity. 

The mandate requires that every delivery to your doorstep and every ride that users book must be made in an EV or CNG vehicle. Haryana joins other NCR jurisdictions, including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan, in operationalising the CAQM mandate. 

This latest intervention echoes a recurring instinct in policy circles. Once an industry, like e-commerce, becomes large and visible, burdensome compliance regimes follow. This is ill–informed on several counts. 

Policymakers see EV fleets as a silver bullet to solve India’s growing urban pollution woes. But, e-commerce companies tend not to own the vehicles that make their deliveries. In most cases, gig workers own their vehicles, and their work is characterised by low barriers to entry. 

The gig economy is also predicated on choice. E-commerce may form one of many income streams for a gig worker. Therefore, investing in an EV in service of a particular gig doesn’t make financial sense. NITI Aayog’s 2025 report, titled ‘Electric........

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