Delhi Government Begins Planning for Citywide Network of EV Charging Infrastructure

All government agencies in Delhi including the three MCDs, NDMC, DDA, PWD, transport department, DTC, DMRC, and DSIIDC will carry out a comprehensive planning exercise in the next two weeks to identify concessional locations within their jurisdictions for the purpose of setting up public charging stations.

Through this exercise, the Delhi government will roll out a coordinated strategy to setup 200 public charging and battery-swapping stations at prominent locations in the city. This was among the key decisions taken at the first meeting of the Charging Infrastructure Working Group of Delhi government that met on Thursday under the Chairmanship of Jasmine Shah, Vice Chairperson, Dialogue & Development Commission of Delhi.

The Delhi EV Policy 2020 which was notified last month by the Transport Department lays a special emphasis on accelerated rollout of public charging infrastructure as a key enabler in rapid adoption of Electric Vehicles in Delhi.

“Delhi government will soon be rolling out financial incentives promised under the EV policy. By creating a Charging Infrastructure Working Group, Delhi government has brought on board all the different agencies and DISCOMs of Delhi to initiate work on accelerated rollout of charging infrastructure in a collaborative manner. This is critical to realising Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s vision of making Delhi the EV capital of India and among the top cities globally in terms of EV penetration," said Shah.

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It was agreed at the meeting that given the emphasis of Delhi EV Policy on mass adoption of EVs in the two-wheeler and three-wheeler vehicle segments, the charging infrastructure should focus primarily on setting up a large number of slow-charging stations consisting of AC-001 charging points (3.3 kW each) and limited number of DC-001 fast chargers (15 kW each), instead of setting up a few expensive fast-charging stations that cater primarily for premium four-wheelers. Additionally, developing a wide network of battery-swapping stations was also identified as a key priority.

In addition to public charging stations, establishing charging facilities in restricted public spaces such as malls, office complexes, group housing societies, hotels, education institutions, hospitals was also identified as a priority at the meeting.