NEW DELHI: Out of the target of setting up 100 charging stations for electric vehicles by the year-end, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has commissioned work on 66 and work on the remaining 34 has been expedited.
The are 17 sites for the charging stations at Connaught Place, four on Barakhamba Road, four on Kali Mandir Lane (Gurudwara Road), two at Mandi House, three near Akashwani Bhavan, three at NDMC parking in Dilli Haat, two near PSOI club, six at New Moti Bagh, two at Moti Bagh (Chanakyapuri), one at Ashok Road, Khanna Market, four at Lodhi Garden, eight near Talkatora Stadium, Gole Market, Sarojini Nagar, Laxmi Bai Market, two at Yashwant Place, six on Rafi Marg and one at Sansad Marg (Sardar Patel Bhavan).
NDMC vice-chairperson Satish Upadhyay said the charging stations for four-wheelers can be used by everyone by paying Rs 10 per unit of electricity. People who want to use the facility to charge their four-wheelers can book a slot online through the app “Electreefi”. “In case they face any issues in using the charging station, customers can call the support team on the helpline number 8305305305. Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), which has been given the contract for carrying out the project, will resolve the errors pointed out by consumers within 72 hours,” he added.
Being a stakeholder in the project, NDMC also has a back-end support system to monitor the status of service issues and rectification, in case the equipment installed at the EV charging stations is not working properly. “Most of these are DC chargers and people can charge their four-wheelers between two and two and a half hours,” said an official.
Work on laying cables is under process at 34 sites. “Due to the monsoon, the work was put on hold for some time. But now we expect the cables to be laid by the month-end. However, these stations will only become fully operational by the end of this year,” the official said.
For setting up the public EV charging infrastructure, NDMC signed an agreement with EESL, which became effective from 2019. It was later approved in the council meeting.
“According to the MoU, EESL is incurring the entire cost of installation, operation and maintenance and paying Rs 1 as rent for land to NDMC. A plan to implement the second phase of the project is in the pipeline. However, any finalisation of the proposal or identification of sites will be done after phase-I is completed,” said Upadhyay.
A vehicle can travel 100-150km after getting charged fully, which is enough for local travel. “The decision to set up these stations came after the Centre’s push to switch to e-vehicles by 2030,” said the official.
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