Magenta, Central Railways set-up public EV charging point along Parel, Dadar and Byculla railway stations

Mumbai-headquartered EV charging company Magenta in collaboration with Central Railways has inaugurated public EV charging station along the Parel Railway Station. The charging station was inaugurated by Subhash Desai, Minister of Industry and Mining, Maharashtra government.

Over the next two weeks, Magenta shall also set up the EV charging station along the Dadar and Byculla railway stations. The first of its kind public charging station will be functional 24×7 initially with the streetlamp integrated EV charging stations (ChargeGrid Flare) and subsequently with DC fast chargers. This combination of AC and DC chargers will support two-, three- and four-wheelers. The company says these chargers can be operated through the ChargeGrid App with online remote monitoring which includes an automated payment gateway, thereby eliminating the need of having a station marshal to monitor, maintain and operate the chargers at the location.

At present, Magenta is targeting to install 4,500 chargers across 108 cities in India (2,950 chargers under the FAME-2 scheme along REIL; more than 1,200 chargers along Petrol stations such as HPCL and others; 82 at FERN Hotels; Residential chargers in collaboration with government of Delhi; residential chargers at Bangalore Apartment Federation). This it says will support the government initiative of setting up 400,000 charging stations to meet the requirement for 2 million electric vehicles that could potentially ply on its roads by 2026.

Maxson Lewis, MD and co-founder, Magenta said, “Installing EV chargers at Mumbai railway stations is a dream come true for me at a personal level. The adoption of electric vehicles cannot be said to have taken off, if the common man’s concern of EV charging is not addressed; and what better than making EV charging available at the most synonymous locations for Mumbai’s common man – railway stations.”

Dr Kiran C Patel said, “I’m proud to be associated with the Magenta family, to make my vision of an EV ready India possible. This initiative of street lamp-based EV charging station at a railway station is unique, since it’s Made in India and Made for India.”

Subhash Desai, Minister of Industry and Mining, Maharashtra government said, “We are glad to see Magenta with Central Railways pushing ‘green initiatives’ and setting up EV charging stations addressing the lack of the charging infrastructure for EVs to operate smoothly. This initiative will bring relief to people who can charge their EVs at key locations near Railway stations as well.”