With the increasing shift to the EV vehicles the Indian government has now taken up the ambition to increasingly establish EV charging infrastructure across critical transport hubs, including airports, Highways, railways and Water Way Ports. The focus would be towards setting up a expansive battery replacement network. The broader objective of the investment would be to strengthen EV adoption in the country.
To reach the long term goal several government authorities such as MHI, Air Ports Authority India and National Highway’s authority of India as well as Ministry of ports would come together to determine optimal locations for charging stations. Rs 2,000 crore out of the Rs 10,900 crore of Pm E-drive scheme have been allocated for the setup of charging points and battery swapping stations to push the EV adoption further.
The goals that the Government has set for itself include the possibility to increase public charging stations from 32,500 to 72,300 By Fy 26.
Charging Stations Along All Major Routes
Transport corridors such as Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Airport, Kochi Airport and the NH 179B have already been established with charging stations, beyond these locations further more locations are being accessed as well for further installation. To further ensure that EV charging can be depended upon in Long Haul travelling MHI has identified 20 National highways that would be witnessing more EV charge stations, for the same NHAI would be handling the tendering process, MHI would be providing financial backing and would cover 80% of the project costs.
While there have been no restrictions on the number or size of the batteries, installations must meet with the safety standards that have been outlined by the Power Ministry. Further If AAI includes a battery swapping facility in its tenders it would further have to specify the power capacity and cost parameters. Beyond that operators would have to meet service level expectations based on investment.
Also Read: Hyundai Creta Vs Suzuki Grand Vitara- Which Compact SUV Delivers The Best Value For Money
