Delhi NCR To Get 300 New Charging Stations By EESL But There Are Challenges To Be Faced

Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) is constantly working towards expanding the electric vehicle charging network in the Delhi-NCR region. In a recent development, the joint venture of PSUs has now confirmed that it will be installing up to 300 new charging stations across Delhi-NCR in the coming 5 to 6 months.

The update comes just a couple of weeks after the firm announced its plans to install 100 new charging stations in Noida. In addition to the charging stations, Noida authority had also mentioned an intent to procure 5 new electric vehicles for official use under a new MoU to be signed between the two entities.

While optimum locations for the stations in Noida are still under survey, EESL has already partnered with New Delhi Municipal Council and installed 55 DC-0001 15 kW public charging stations in Delhi, across areas such as Connaught Place and Khan Market, as per a report by IANS. The chain of charging stations was initiated by BSES back in June, with the installation of Delhi's first charging station at South Extension Part II

In the report, EESL Managing Director Saurabh Kumar has been cited as saying, ¡°we are planning to install up to 300 in Delhi-NCR in next five to six months. We have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) to install around 100 public charging stations in the city."

DELHI POWER MINISTER SATYENDRA JAIN INAUGURATES FIRST SMART PUBLIC E-CHARGING STATION AT SOUTH EXTENSION PART -2 IN DELHI (Image: BCCL)

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The need of the hour

Since there is a limited use of electric vehicles in India as of now, the number of operational charging stations in the capital region is ample for now. EESL is eyeing the future though, as Kumar says, "we understand that the future of mobility is electric and demand for EVs is also increasing substantially. So, we are expanding the charging infrastructure in Delhi-NCR and other cities in India.¡±

For this, EESL is in talks with city authorities pan India and has promised to come up with a charging network wide enough for a practical use of electric vehicles in the country, a part of the FAME-II scheme to push EV adoption in India.

Charging stations are not the only way out though, as EESL is also installing captive chargers in appropriate locations. Within Delhi, the firm has installed a total of 305 captive chargers, with 102 of them being DC-001 fast charger and 203 AC-001 chargers.

The challenges

Kumar mentions that one of the major roadblocks is the availability of land for these charging stations. As the vehicles to be charged will have to be parked in the spot for a considerable amount of time, these charging stations require ample area to be efficiently operational.

For now, EESL does not pay any rent to the municipal bodies that provide the required parking slots for such public chargers. Instead, the state-run firm pays a land rental proportion to these municipal bodies per kilowatt hour (kW/h) used. That is when EESL sets up the charging stations and runs them on a 10 years pact at the location.

(Representative Image: Reuters)

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Apart from the land required, EV charging stations also need a heavy capital investment. IANS reports that a 15KW DC-001 charger costs approximately Rs 2,75,000 per unit. Similarly, CCS-CHAdeMO-combined chargers are for about Rs 14,70,000 per charger.

As can be noted, the costs are exorbitantly high for a per unit installation. To tackle this, EESL is counting on a bulk purchase of such charging units. Kumar says, "We were pleasantly surprised, when we started the bid for the new charger. It reduces our investment substantially. This was a bid for 200 combined chargers.¡±

Understandably, this is a profitable strategy in an event wherein the installation of such a setup is unavoidable. In fact, EESL is planning to push the purchase to an even higher number. ¡°If we are able to aggregate more, we will do a larger agreement and expect that this price to further come down," Kumar adds.

In addition, India is trying to come up with its own standards for these EV charging stations. Currently, the stations comply to one of three international standards - Japanese, Chinese and European. Once BIS and DST, which are working on this, are able to come up with India¡¯s 0own standards, the effective cost of the installation of such charging stations is poised to come down.