Target electric vehicles: 10,000 charging points by December in Delhi
NEW DELHI: As the fifth week of the “Switch Delhi” campaign concluded on Saturday, transport minister Kailash Gahlot said that with a three-pronged strategy, the Kejriwal government had taken the lead across India in installing sound charging infrastructure in Delhi for a smooth transition to electric vehicles.
The fifth week of the campaign focused on raising awareness among people about electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the capital. “Delhi government is leaving no stone unturned to ensure a smooth transition to EVs for Delhiites.
The vision of the Kejriwal government to establish a charging point at a distance of every three kilometres will increase confidence in people to make the switch to EV and pave the way for making Delhi the electric vehicle capital of India,” Gahlot claimed.
Elaborating on the “three pillars” of the strategy to expand EV charging infrastructure in Delhi, Gahlot said the government had already floated a tender for 100 public charging stations, with 500 charging points at prominent locations, which will be operational by December this year.
This is apart from the existing 72 stations already operational in Delhi.
Gahlot said Delhi government was building a mobile application to ensure that the geo-locations of all charging stations and the status of chargers, whether they are occupied or available for use, can be seen in real-time.
The minister also said that with all commercial and institutional buildings, such as malls, shopping complexes, cinema halls, office spaces, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, etc, with parking capacity of over 100 vehicles mandated to set aside at least 5% space for EVs, along with suitable slow chargers, the capital will have more than 10,000 chargers by December 2021.
“A suitable amendment in Delhi’s building bylaws has already been initiated to enable this,” he added.
“Under the government’s EV policy, a subsidy of up to Rs 6,000 per charging point can be availed by residential and commercial complexes to set up charging points.
Delhi government has taken this step to tackle range anxiety and promote faster adoption of EVs in the capital,” Gahlot said.
The third step taken by the government is to rope in EV fleet operators to open their captive charging stations for public use.
“This is a win-win proposition since it allows EV cab and rickshaw operators to get better utilisation and returns from their investment into EV charging infrastructure. This will add another 750 charging points at least for public use in Delhi by June 2021,” the transport minister claimed.
‘Switch Delhi’ is an eight-week mass awareness campaign by the state government to sensitise Delhiites about the benefits of switching to EVs, as well as to make them aware of the incentives and infrastructure being developed under the EV policy.
The campaign aims at informing, encouraging, and motivating people to switch from polluting vehicles to zero-emission electric vehicles.
Source: timesofindia
