Four locations to roll out EV charging hubs across Pune – EQ Mag Pro
Hinjewadi, Pune railway station, Lohegaon airport, Swargate and Bhekrainagar are some of the areas in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad that are coming up as ‘concentrated hub of electric vehicles deployment’.
Pune has started working on fast-tracking electric vehicle adoption and has set sights on going ‘all electric’ in the future. Hinjewadi, Pune railway station, Lohegaon airport, Swargate and Bhekrainagar are some of the areas in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad that are coming up as ‘concentrated hub of electric vehicles deployment’ and ‘public charging clusters’ for electric vehicles.
These locations – where charging stations exist or EVs are operating in large numbers or companies plan to deploy EV in future – have been identified by around 80 companies which participated in the City Electric Vehicle Accelerator workshop conducted recently by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). Based on these and other findings, a complete ‘EV charging infrastructure plan’ for the city will be prepared soon.
RMI India, an independent think-tank which is helping PMC to make Pune city ‘EV Ready’, has put together immediate and long-term steps to be implemented by PMC along with Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) and the state government. Several issues and potential roadblocks for creating EV charging infrastructure are also identified by the 80 plus companies which are stakeholders in the EV sector.
Akshima Ghate, senior principal, RMI India said, “Hinjewadi is an emerging area for EV deployment. We have identified seven locations and are in the process of identifying more pockets in the city to accelerate the charging infrastructure. We need to have a plan for the city which no other city in the country so far has. Our next step is to get all stakeholders in the EV ecosystem and work with city’s EV Cell to put together a charging infrastructure action plan.”
“While the focus is on the fast-charging facilities, we also need semi-public charging infrastructure with slow-charging facilities for EVs. This can be done in residential areas and housing societies. Incentives and subsidies for making slow chargers and property tax rebates for installing them could be one of the steps to encourage its use,” added Ghate.
Tejsing Gaikwad, CEO, TAG Eutomotive and an electric vehicle OEM who participated in the governance working group during the accelerator workshop, said, “We need good charging infrastructure especially with standardised swapable batteries. The public charging stations available at present are not truly accessible for all EV users. Hence, state government and civic bodies should work closely with the industry players and possibly enter a public-private partnership model to cater to the emerging two-wheeler EV segment.”
During the workshop, PMC commissioner Vikram Kumar said that the EV Cell will work as a ‘single window’ system to resolve grievances of all stakeholders in the EV ecosystem. He also mentioned a policy framework to allow property tax rebates for residential housing societies for setting up charging stations.
Source: hindustantimes
