The Delhi government wants to provide battery swapping facilities with incentives and one public charging station for every 15 electric vehicles by 2024.
The Delhi government introduced its EV policy in 2020 two years ago and through a new policy document, a charging action plan for the city has been made public. The plan acknowledged that the lack of suitable and developed charging infrastructure is the main barrier to the widespread adoption of electric vehicles.
1 Charging Station For 15 EVs
When describing the current difficulties, it was clear that buyers had a hard time finding trustworthy chargers on the market that were compatible with a variety of vehicles. Thus increasing the number of compatible chargers is one of the best ways to handle the situation.
Delhi plans to have one public charging station for every fifteen electric vehicles by 2024, according to a recently disclosed document titled the “Charging/Swapping Infrastructure Action Plan for 2022-25.” These charging stations will be distributed evenly throughout Delhi and will all be within a 3-kilometre travel distance of any location within the city.
“Taking into account the EV penetration and public charging needs of different vehicle segments and use cases, a charger to EV ratio of 1:15 translates to around 18,000 charging points would be required to cater for the need for (25% of total vehicle registrations) electric vehicles in the horizon year of 2024,”. The document said.
Swapping Batteries
The Delhi government’s intention to include incentives for running battery swapping facilities in the Delhi EV policy was also discussed in the document. To prevent the end user from having to pay a sizable deposit, energy operators would receive up to 50% of the purchase incentive if the battery was not sold with the car. Since two- and three-wheeled vehicles account for 42% of Delhi’s total pollution, the government is emphasizing the widespread adoption of electric vehicles, particularly in these two segments.
According to the government, battery swapping has the potential to become a standard procedure for two- and three-wheeled electric cars, which make up the majority of EVs in the country. The Delhi government will also permit DISCOMS, or power distribution companies, to research how EV charging affects the system.
Nothing Comes Before Safety
The plan also stated that all public EV charging stations in Delhi will be required to abide by the provisions provided in the Central Electricity Authority (Technical Standards for Connectivity of the Distributed Generation Resources) Amendment Regulations, 2019, and Central Electricity Authority (Measures relating to Safety and Electric Supply) (Amendment) Regulations, 2019. The plan also stated that the safety of vehicles during charging is critical to ensuring customers’ trust in EVs.
The strategy emphasized that 42% of vehicular pollution is created by two and three-wheelers, emphasizing the importance of widespread adoption of electric two and three-wheelers for Delhi’s transformation into India’s EV capital.
Practicality Leads The Way
Due to Delhi’s limited land supply, the statement said that it would use already-existing private and semi-public places (such as stores, malls, theatres, hospitals, offices, cooperative housing societies, etc.) with parking spots and long vehicle dwell times. It also stated that Delhi wants to rank among the cities with the best “Light EV” infrastructure.
The lack of understanding, the need to work with several stakeholders, the expense of chargers and electrical connections, and a lack of incentives, among other factors, may make it difficult to establish EV charging stations in Delhi, the report pointed out