Delhi Set To Launch Over 100 EV Charging Stations
In good news for electric car owners in India’s capital city New Delhi, the government approved setting up over 100 EV charging stations.
The Ministry of Power of the Indian government has announced that 131 EV charging stations shall be set up across the Indian capital city Delhi. The charging stations shall be set up at metro stations, gas stations, and in the parking lots of an airport and a university.
Chart from Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure: Guidelines For Cities (2018)
The locations of the charging stations will take into consideration the charging needs of electric vehicles coming from the adjoining cities of Noida, Gurgaon, and Ghaziabad as well as the needs of local residents. The charging stations are expected to be operational within three months.
The sites selected for installation of the charging stations must be publicly accessible. Till now, charging stations have been set up at offices of government companies in central Delhi that acquired EVs through government tenders.
We previously reported that Tata Motors and Mahindra Electric were awarded contracts to deliver a total of 500 EVs, which are now being used by various government offices. So, as of now, electric cars in Delhi are basically being used only in government companies and ministries. This latest announcement to set up charging stations at various locations across the city will help private citizens to have charging access, and hopefully will inspire some to consider electric vehicles as viable alternatives to conventional vehicles.
Though the government came out with a draft EV policy last year that aims to provide subsidies and grants to the EV buyers, EVs still haven’t picked up pace in the diesel-dominant vehicle market. One of the biggest challenges that citizens face in switching to EVs is the lack of charging stations and high upfront cost.
Last year, a Delhi-based EV startup, EV Motors India, announced that it will set up 6,500 charging stations all over India by 2023 in partnership with DLF, Delta Electronics India, and ABB India. It also planned to set up 20 such outlets in the Delhi–NCR region in a 12 month period. Related EV charging stories in India are included on the bottom of this article.
Delhi has consistently been ranked on the top of the list of most polluted cities in the world and much of this is because of vehicle pollution. Therefore, a transition to electric vehicles is a must for the city.
Source: cleantechnica
