Delhi Govt Launches EV Charging, Battery Swapping Stations

The Delhi Government's Switch Delhi website now features an open database for EV charging and battery swapping facilities. The open database was developed to unify all battery swapping and charge stations on a single platform, allowing public access to more than 2,500 charging stations in the nation's capital.

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The decision follows several measures the local government launched to rely on technology for user comfort and speedy EV adoption. More than 2,500 battery swapping and charging stations can be found around Delhi thanks to an open database facility, and by 2025, there should be 18,000 of these locations.

EV Policy in Delhi

in August 2020, the Delhi Electric Vehicles (EV) policy was announced. According to the EV policy's clause, "The Transport Department, GNCTD shall develop an open, publicly owned database offering historical and real-time information on public charging infrastructure, i.e., kWh, session length, vehicle type, if available, number of events, location (latitude, longitude), number of chargers at the site, site classification, payment amount, pay structure (by the hour, by kWh, or by session), and payment rate. Data from the energy operators must be sent to this open database. The database is available for free usage by charging apps and maps as well as in-car navigation systems.

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The action operationalized the aforementioned policy clause and gave charging service providers the option to create platforms that enhance passenger convenience.

Access to Open Databases

By the directive of the policy, the Transport Department has recently established an open, publicly owned database. Through the official website of EV-Delhi, registered entities and individuals can access the database to submit and get historical and current data about public charging and swapping infrastructure.

The charging service providers can submit a request through the open database portal after registering to obtain the data linked to all EV chargers and battery swapping stations in both static and dynamic formats. A secret API key will be instantly shared when the request is made to access dynamic data. Within 48 hours of filing the request, a decision on whether to approve it will be made available.

All organisations running public and/or semi-public EV charging or swapping stations in the NCT of Delhi are required by the Delhi EV policy to contribute data to the open database within three weeks after the order's notification.