Union Minister of Road Transport & Highway Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday showcased to the country India’s first miniature EV charging station which is supposed to give tough competition to the petrol pumps. Conceptualised by National Highways for EV (NHEV), this miniature model of charging station is the first ever such model in the industry which has been designed as a comprehensive wayside amenities plaza that can reimagine and replace the traditional petrol pumps and wayside amenities on the highways.
“For the last three to four years, I have been regularly talking about electric vehicles and answering many questions like what would happen if we break down with an electric vehicle? Now there are waiting lists for electric cars and scooters and I can say that electric is the fuel of the future. Currently electric double-decker AC bus cost is Rs. 60 per km, non AC Rs. 39 per kilometer and for normal electric AC bus costs Rs. 41 per km, and a diesel bus costs Rs. 115 per km. If we can bring business class comfort in an electric bus with a trolley on an economical ticket cost to passengers. In that case, it will make public transportation more competent for users,” said Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highway.
The pilot project is currently conducting its concluding phase of the technical and commercial trial with buses and long-range electric SUVs on the Delhi to Jaipur highway which would add 278 km stretch in the previously conducted 210 km TECH-trial Run between Delhi-Agra in 2021 to accomplish technical trials of total 500 km across four states UP, Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan in its pilot phase.
“The pilot has already covered 10 per cent stretch between Agra to Delhi to Jaipur in two phases, out of its total 5000 km highways that India aims to upgrade as e-highways in next two years. NHEV team is slating its plan to install pre-fabricated modules of these stations’ electrical and structural infra, soon after commissioning its pilot phase. So that new stations in the expansion phase can be speedily installed within 90 days from their allocations.” said Abhijeet Sinha, National Program Director, Ease of Doing Business.
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This Miniature EV charging model has already been prototyped in Sector 86 and 52 of Gurugram in Haryana from the safety and standards perspective of operational and commercial challenges envisaged by the NHEV team earlier this year in March. Two of India’s largest NHEV commissioned Alekhify charging stations are currently operational and were inaugurated by NITI Aayog’s Advisor, Sudhendu Sinha.
“These charging stations are commercially competing with petrol pumps,” said former NITI Aayog CEO, Amitabh Kant during his visit to the NHEV city prototype e-hub while reviewing the architectural layout of the miniature revealed yesterday by Nitin Gadkari for Jaipur-Delhi-Agra E-highway pilot.
