e-vehicle charging stations at Himachal's govt hotels to woo tourists

Tribune News Service

Ambika Sharma

Solan, January 15

In a bid to lure tourists, the HP State Tourism Development Corporation is installing electric vehicle charging stations at its hotels across the state.

Level 1 stations installed

• Corporation’s MD said the move to set up e-vehicle charging stations was aimed at drawing tourists and all hotels would be equipped with such stations soon
• If the stations attract a sizeable number of tourists, higher Level 2 stations involving an expenditure of about Rs 40,000 each can also be explored, he said
• To begin with, the corporation has installed Level 1 stations which involve a minimal expenditure

The corporation has hotels at key places like Barog, Parwanoo, Kiarighat and Darlaghat on highways which receive a significant tourist footfall of tourists. Its hotels are also located at Shimla, Fagu, Paonta Sahib, Nurpur, Rampur, Kullu, Manali, Dharamsala, Palampur, etc. Even the tribal areas of Keylong, Chamba and Kaza have hotels.

Corporation’s Managing Director Rajeev Kumar informed, “The move to set up e-vehicle charging stations is aimed at luring tourists and all hotels would be equipped with such stations in the next two to three months.”

To begin with, the corporation has installed Level 1 stations which involve a minimal expenditure. “If the stations attract a sizable number of tourists, higher Level 2 stations involving an expenditure of about Rs 40,000 can also be explored,” informed Kumar. While a Level 1 station takes 10-12 hours to charge a vehicle fully, it provides charge through a 120 volts in-house outlet. A Level 2 station takes about four to six hours for a vehicle to be charged fully and it operates through a 240-volts outlet requiring installation of a bigger paraphernalia. A Level 3 station, which charges a vehicle fully within minutes, requires lakhs for its installation.

According to the figures of performance for the current financial year, as against the income of Rs 7.14 crore, the corporation has incurred an expenditure of Rs 7.64 crore. A loss of Rs 5 crore has been calculated till now and it would rise further till March. The corporation had registered a loss of Rs 7.53 crore in the last financial year 2022-23.

With fewer funds to invest in such stations, it remains to be seen if the cursory Level 1 charging station would help the corporation lure more visitors as only those who stay at least for a night would be able to avail the facility.

It remains to be seen if the e-vehicles being promoted by the state government would lure a sizable chunk of the state’s population as the cost of battery replacements among other limitations have been pointed out by users as a dissuading factor. This fact also came to fore after two e-vehicles at Solan civic body became redundant after its battery withered and no funds could be spared for its replacement.

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