Gadkari unveils miniature of national highway EV charging station to compete with petrol pumps

New Delhi, Sep 27 (IANS) In a first, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari unveiled the miniature of the state-of-the-art EV charging station conceptualised by the National Highways for EV (NHEV).

The NHEV miniature model of the charging station is the first ever such model in the industry which has been conceptualised as a comprehensive wayside amenities plaza that can reimagine and replace the existing traditional petrol pumps and wayside amenities on the highways. This comes as a successor to the initiative of EODB which strives at upgrading 5000 km of national highways to E-highways through its pilot project called the National Highway for EV.

The pilot project is currently conducting its concluding phase of technical and commercial trials with buses and long-range electric SUV on the Delhi-Jaipur stretch from September 9. This would add a 278 km stretch to the previously conducted 210 km TECH-trial run between Delhi-Agra in 2021 to accomplish technical trials of a total 500 km across four states -- UP, Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan -- in its pilot phase.

During the inaugural address, Nitin Gadkari said "Since the last 3-4 years I have been talking about electric vehicles and have been answering many questions like what would happen if we break down with an electric vehicle? However it didn't happen and with gradual increase in confidence the technology questions got answered. Now there are waiting lists for electric cars and scooters and I can say that electric is the fuel of the future. Currently electric double decker AC bus costs are coming to Rs. 60 per km, non AC Rs. 39 per kilometre and for normal electric AC bus Rs. 41 per km and diesel bus is costing Rs. 115 per km. If you can bring business class comfort in an electric bus with trolley on economical ticket cost to passengers, it will make public transportation more competent for users".

"The pilot has already covered a 10% stretch between Agra-Delhi-Jaipur in two phases, out of its total 5000 km highways that India aims to upgrade as E-highways in the next 2 years. The NHEV team is slating its plan to install pre-fabricated modules of these station's electrical and structural infra, soon after commissioning its pilot phase. So that new stations in expansion phase can be speedily installed within 90 days from their allocations." said National Program Director, Ease of Doing Business Abhijeet Sinha, also Project Director NHEV at EODB Services.

The revealed miniature has brought out the operational and financial comparison between a 'Charging Station' and 'Petrol Pumps', showing an imperative impetus on Public Private Partnership to build nationwide charging infrastructure. It showcased all the key indicators like ease in setting-up and minimal licensing, bankable and fundable world-class 'Relay Service' fleet models and the highest possible utilisation of infra and assets within a minimal breakeven period of 40 months.