Hyderabad chosen for e-vehicle charging infra roll out

Hyderabad: Revising the earlier guidelines for establishing electric vehicles charging infrastructure in the country, the Centre has identified Hyderabad city and Outer Ring Road of Hyderabad as areas of national priority for the phase-1 roll out.

the Union Power Ministry informed the State government about the decision. The Centre has also told the State government about the revised guidelines for preparing a policy for setting up the charging stations for electric vehicles.

The Centre said that the objective is to enable faster adoption of electric vehicles in India by ensuring safe, reliable, accessible and affordable charging Infrastructure and eco-system. It wants to promote affordable tariff chargeable from EV owners and charging station operators and owners.

The revised guidelines have stated that private charging at residences or offices shall be permitted and Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) should facilitate the same.

Setting up of Public Charging Stations (PCS) should be a de-licensed activity and any individual and entity is free to set up them provided that such stations meet the technical, safety as well as performance standards and protocols.

Any person seeking to set up a Public Charging Station may apply for connectivity on priority by the Distribution Company licensee to supply power in the area.

Any Charging Station or Chain of Charging Stations may also obtain electricity from any generation company through open access.

Public Charging Infrastructure should have an exclusive transformer with all related substation equipment including safety appliance, 33/11 KV line or cables with associated equipment including line termination etc, appropriate civil works, appropriate cabling and electrical works ensuring safety, adequate space for charging and entry and exit of vehicles, any one or more chargers or any combination of chargers.

Charging station for e-two or three wheelers shall be free to install any charger other than those specified by CEA. There must be a tie up with at least one online Network Service Providers (NSPs) to enable advance remote or online booking of charging slots by EV owners.

They must share charging station data with the appropriate DISCOM and adhere to protocols as prescribed by CEA for this purpose.

The charging station may also be installed by housing societies, malls, office complexes, restaurants, hotels, etc with a provision to allow charging of visitor's vehicles which are permitted to come in its premises.

At least one charging station should be available in a grid of 3 km X 3 km. Further, one charging station should be set up at every 25 kms on both sides of highways and roads.

Tariff for supply of electricity to EV Public Charging Stations should be determined by the appropriate commission in accordance with the Tariff Policy issued under section 3 of Electricity Act 2003.

The tariff applicable for domestic consumption should be applicable for domestic charging. The Centre has identified mega cities like Hyderabad and others, few national and express highways as areas of national priority rolling out the charging station infrastructure.

The State has been told to nominate a nodal agency for setting up charging infrastructure. The State DISCOM should generally be the nodal agency for such purposes.