Govt to establish 2,636 electric vehicles charging stations in India

To promote the usage of electric vehicles (EVs) in India, the government has approved a plan to establish 2,636 charging stations for EVs throughout the country.

These charging stations will be spread across 62 cities in 24 states and Union Territories.

As a part of the plan, out of the 2,636 charging stations, 1,633 will be rapid charging stations. Maharashtra has topped the list with 317 followed by Andhra Pradesh with 266.

The states of Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan will get 256, 207, and 205 charging stations respectively. The Union Territories of Delhi and Chandigarh are expected to receive around 70 such charging stations, said a TOI report.

This development, which has come as part of FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles) India programme, is yet another attempt by the government to maximize the use of EVs and achieve high adoption by 2030 in India.

According to Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, by installing these charging stations, it is expected that at least one charging station will be available in most of the selected cities in a grid of 4 km x 4 km.

It will boost the confidence of users of electric vehicles in terms of range anxiety, Kant added.

Importantly, sanction letters to the selected entities will be issued in phases after ensuring the availability of land for charging stations, signing of necessary agreements with concerned partner organisations like city municipal corporation/discoms/oil companies etc.

In March 2019, the government had also put localisation content limit for EV makers to avail incentive benefit and had also cut down customs duty on electric vehicle parts to 10-15 per cent from 15-30 per cent in January last year.