India’s capital Delhi will soon get 131 public charging stations for electric vehicles, providing people with easy access to recharging facilities. Significantly, the locations of these charging stations have been decided so as to cater to the charging needs of electric vehicles coming from adjoining cities of Noida, Gurgaon and Ghaziabad as well.
The plan—intended to increase adoption of electric vehicles by addressing charging concerns among potential buyers—has already been approved by the power ministry and the Delhi government, reported Economic Times while sharing the details.
The central government wants the facilities to be made operational in three months, it said.
While a total of 82 EV charging facilities will come up at CNG and petrol pumps—34 at CNG stations, 24 at Indian Oil petrol pumps, 15 at Bharat Petroleum fuel stations and nine at Hindustan Petroleum—33 such facilities will be set up at Metro stations. One each will be set up in the parking area at IGI Airport and Jamia Millia, added the report.
At a meeting chaired by power minister R.K. Singh in mid-February, three municipal corporations and Delhi Transco Ltd were selected as the nodal agencies for their respective areas. These four nodal agencies will operate the facilities for three years, charging a fee from users.
Private players will be able to set up similar charging stations later when the business becomes financially viable.
With this move, the Centre intends to allay ‘range anxiety’ fears among potential buyers as a few car major car makers are likely to launch their high-range electric vehicles in July this year.
“One of the reasons why people think twice before buying an electric car is ‘range anxiety’ — the apprehension they would have no option to recharge in case the vehicle runs out of battery. The government is trying to address that concern. The skeleton of charging network will bring confidence as one can be sure of getting a charging station in a few km range. More stations will come up as demand goes up,” Alekhya Datta, fellow and area convener of TERI told Economic Times.
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The number of ev charging points is only one of the several issues that are still pending in India/NCR:
Others include:
1. fast charging compatibility
2. compatibility of chargers
3. pricing of charge(per KW or per unit)…
Once these all are addressed, evs could get the life that they deserve and improve the lifestyle of commuters.