A total of 100 new e-vehicle charging stations will be set up across "prime locations" in Delhi by June 27 and 71 of these will be at metro stations, Power Minister Satyendar Jain said on Monday. Addressing a press conference here, he said the charge for using the station facility will be "Rs 2 per unit", which he claimed will be the "lowest in the country".
"Our EV policy envisages a charging station per 3 km in the city. Tenders were floated for setting up 100 (e-vehicle) charging stations with 500 charging points. Tenders have been closed, and 100 prime locations have been identified where charging stations will be set up, and 71 of these will be located at metro stations," Jain said.
According to the tender, the stations will be built on a PPP (public-private-partnership) mode, with land, cabling and transmission infrastructure being provided by the government, and equipment and manpower by the company, he said. The tender was selected on the basis of lowest service charge and of the 12 bidders, the service charge to be taken has been posted in the "negative" value, the minister said.
The charging stations will be operationalised within three months. The agreements will be signed by April 8 and by June 27, these charging stations will become operational, he said. Jain later also tweeted about it: "The Delhi government will establish 100 EV-charging stations by June 27th 2022. These smart charging stations will have the lowest service charges in the country at Rs. 2.00 per unit. After the completion of this project, Delhi will have a total of 900 EV charging points."
Last month, EVs contributed to more than 10 per cent of the total vehicle sales in Delhi, he said. A senior government official said the 100 e-vehicle charging stations will be spread across the city -- East Delhi (8 sites), New Delhi (4), North Delhi (5), North East Delhi (9), North West Delhi (22), South Delhi (19), South West Delhi (15) and West Delhi (18). Currently, there are about 400 charging points in the city that are owned by government and private companies, Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) vice chairperson Jasmine Shah told reporters.
"Now, with 500 more charging points, the number will be more than doubled soon," he said. Shah also said the 100 locations across the national capital have been chosen on the basis of a scientific survey to cater to underserved areas. The senior government official said there are 180 charging stations, spanning about 379 charging points in Delhi at present. Additionally, Delhi has at least 79 battery swapping stations in operation that have 274 swapping docks. Later, in a series of tweets, Shah said this was "yet another huge milestone" in Delhi's journey towards becoming India's EV capital.
"Delhi govt has successfully concluded India's largest tender for setting up 100 EV charging stations (total 500 points). They will be opened to public by June '22 and will offer rate of Rs 2/unit," he said. He said this tender will become "a benchmark for many Indian cities in the years to come".
With PTI Inputs
