For Charging Electric Vehicles, Our Policy Is To Use Green Power: Nitin Gadkari

During 'Question Hour' at the Parliament today, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, said that the Centre's policy for developing the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in India is by using green power, particularly solar energy. The response was in context with a question put forth by Jayadev Galla, Telugu Desam Party MP from Guntur about the steps government is taking in making sure that clean energy is used for powering all charging stations in the country. Gadkari also pointed out that since the charging infrastructure technology is constantly changing, new research and inputs from EV start-ups will be welcomed.

लोकसभा में इलेक्ट्रिक वाहन और चार्जिंग स्टेशन के संबंध में केन्द्रीय मंत्री श्री @nitin_gadkari जी का उत्तर। #QuestionHour (part 2) pic.twitter.com/c367ct96PH

— Office Of Nitin Gadkari (@OfficeOfNG) March 31, 2022

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Citing an example of the use of clean energy for setting-up EV charging infrastructure, Gadkari said, “I am giving you the example of making available 650 roadside amenities on the National Highway, for which work for 40 amenities has already started, and in all the highways we will use solar power. In the area of Gujarat, and somewhere in Tamil Nadu wind power is also being used to provide power to charging stations.”

EV Charging Station

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Gadkari also said, “In Phase 1, within the next 3 years, all megacities with a population of 4 million-plus as per census 2011, all existing expressways connecting to these megacities and highways connected with these megacities can be taken up for coverage. In phase 2, big cities like state capitals, UT headquarters, may also be covered for distributive and demonstrative effects. Further, important highways, connected to each of these cities may be taken up for coverage. In Phase 4, EESL (Energy Efficiency Services Limited) in consortium with the convergence energy services, has been awarded the work of setting up EV charging stations along 16 National Highway expressways.”

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Recently, National Highways India (NHI) signed an MOU with EESL as per which NHI should provide, space, land near the toll plaza, and its building for installation of EV chargers based on revenue-sharing model. The number of electric vehicles in the country, as per Vahan on 25-03-2022, is 10,76,420 and a total of 1,742 Public Charging Stations (PCS), as per the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), are operational in the country, as on 21-03-2022.

2,877 public EV charging stations have been sanctioned in 68 cities.

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Under the Scheme for Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India Phase-II (FAME India Phase II) of the Ministry of Heavy Industries, 2,877 public EV charging stations have been sanctioned in 68 cities.