Delhi government planning to build effective Electric Vehicle infrastructure

New Delhi: The Delhi government has been planning to build on an effective Electric Vehicle (EV) charging Infrastructure across the national capital for faster uptake of Electric Vehicles (EVs).

Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot emphasized on the issued here in a meeting convened earlier on Monday to discuss the status of identification of potential land sites owned by government departments or agencies for setting up EV charging infrastructure in the city.

The first meeting for the Working Group on Accelerated Rollout of Charging Infrastructure in Delhi was held on September 17 this year in which the members had agreed that Delhi Transco Limited (DTL) as the State Nodal Agency for EVs will pool government land parcels and integrate a state-wise tender to install charging stations across the city of Delhi.

Simultaneously, DTL and Delhi DISCOMS will also conduct a joint-survey of the land parcels to identify sites for Priority 1 of the tendering process.

The Delhi EV Policy, 2020 targets 25 per cent of all new vehicle registrations by 2024 to be Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs).

In order to encourage the rapid adoption of electric vehicles, the government is focusing on the "speedy rollout of Electric Vehicle charging Infrastructure in Delhi".

For the installation of EV charging stations, a centralized tendering system will be adopted to hire an energy operator to run, maintain and upgrade charging stations. The land-owning agencies will be required to provide land for the installation of public EV charging stations.

The Transport Minister in a statement said "Delhi has the distinction of having the maximum number of different land-owning agencies. We understand how crucial making an EV friendly ecosystem is to the effective implementation of this policy, and I am happy to note that all these land-owning agencies are aligned to Delhi government and our CMs vision of Delhi the EV capital of India."

"Our working group is already working diligently on identifying probable locations for installing charging infrastructure, and in the next few weeks, we are confident of having a final list of locations where charging stations would come up," Gahlot said.

Senior officials from Transport Department, Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Ltd (DIMTS) and Delhi Transco Ltd (DTL) attended the meeting. Vice-Chairperson of Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi, Jasmine Shah was also present in the meeting.