37 fast charging stations to be installed for electric vehicles in Chandigarh by January-end

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 8

In order to encourage the use of plug-in electric vehicles, the UT Administration will install 37 fast charging stations in different areas of the city soon.

The Central Government had sanctioned 70 charging stations for Chandigarh under Phase II of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) India scheme.

A senior UT official said the work on the installation of 37 of the 70 fast charging stations had been allocated and it was likely to be completed by the end of January next year.

To bring the facility at the nearest place, the charging stations were also being set up in parking lots of sectors, he stated.

He clarified that both two-wheelers and four-wheelers could be charged from the same charging station.

In reply to a question raised in the Lok Sabha, Krishan Pal Gurjar, Minister of State for Heavy Industries, stated that for the development of charging infrastructure, the ministry had sanctioned 70 electric vehicle charging stations for Chandigarh and 48 charging stations had already been installed in the UT till November 8 this year under Phase I of the FAME India scheme.

As many as 22 charging stations had been sanctioned for the Chandigarh-Delhi highway under FAME 1, whereas solar-based chargers would be installed at 20 locations along the highway, he said, adding that 24 charging stations had already been set up on the Delhi-Chandigarh highway.

On bringing the cost of electric vehicles on a par with petrol vehicles, the minister said the government “supported electric vehicles by way demand incentives”. The demand incentive for electric two-wheelers had been increased to Rs15,000/KWh from Rs10,000/KWh with an increase in cap from 20 per cent to 40 per cent of the cost of the vehicle from June 11, 2021, he stated.

A senior UT official said they would gradually improve the infrastructure to encourage the sale of electric vehicles in the city.

The UT will get a total of 40 electric buses by December 15 and the entire fleet would be put on commercial operations by the end of December this year. UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit had, on November 13, flagged off 11 electric buses for commercial operations in the city. In September last year, the Centre had sanctioned 80 electric buses for the UT under Phase II of the FAME India scheme.

The UT Administration has planned to replace its entire fleet of ordinary buses of the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) with electric buses in a phased manner under the Green City theme.

The UT Administration has also prepared a draft electric vehicle policy to give incentives to city residents to encourage them to buy electric vehicles. The official said the draft policy would be issued soon to invite suggestions and objections, if any, from the public.