India powered by 1,742 public EV charging stations

The number of electric vehicles (EV) on roads in India has reached over ten lakh with around 1,700 charging stations operational in public places across the country, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari informed Lok Sabha recently.

As per Vahan 4 data, as of March 25 this year, a total of 10,76,420 EVs and a total of 1,742 Public Charging Stations (PCS), as per the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), are operational.

The Ministry of Power has issued “Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles – the revised consolidated Guidelines and Standards” on January 14, 2022, to accelerate the e-mobility transition in the country, Gadkari said.

“Action plans have been prepared by the BEE for 8 cities with a 4 million-plus population (Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Surat, and Pune),” Gadkari told Lok Sabha.

Under these action plans, scenario-wise targets have been prepared for Business as Usual (BAU), Moderate and Aggressive Scenarios for the installation of chargers in these cities.

Last month, the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) sanctioned 2877 charging stations in 68 cities across 25 states/UTs. MHI had invited proposals from any government organisation or Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) to build and operate public EV charging infrastructure on expressways and National Highways under FAME India Scheme Phase-II for Highways and Expressways.

Additionally, MHI sanctioned 1576 EV Charging Stations across 16 Highways & 9 Expressways under this phase. As per the Ministry of Power guidelines, there shall be at least one charging station at every 25 kms on both sides of the Highway and also at least one Charging Station for long Range/Heavy Duty EVs at every 100 kms on both sides of the Highway. For the city at least one charging station will be set up in a grid of 3km x 3km.

On the other hand, PSU Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), in consortium with Convergence Energy Services Limited (a subsidiary of EESL), has been awarded the work for setting up EV charging stations along 16 NH or expressways. In order to facilitate EESL in the above prospect, NHAI has signed an MOU with EESL, the ministry said.