The first electric vehicle charging station of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) will be available for commercial vehicles in Nerul soon. At present, the trial of the charging station is underway. The appointed contractor Power Grid Corporation of India is rectifying errors that are cropping up during the trials.
Yogesh Kaduskar, deputy municipal commissioner of NMMT said that the trial of charging stations is underway and the facility will be available very soon for commercial vehicles. The charging station is located near the Jewel of Navi Mumbai garden in Nerul.
Kaduskar said that at present, there are two charging units and they will add four more units soon. “In around 90 to 100 minutes, the battery of the electric vehicles will be charged,” said Kaduskar.
The civic body is setting up charging stations on a revenue-sharing basis with the contractor. The charges for charging vehicles will include the basic tariff, service charge and taxes. There will be different slabs for different timings.
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In the second week of May, civic chief Abhijit Bangar held a meeting with the engineering department and officials of Power Grid Corporation of India and directed them to complete the site survey for setting up charging units. He had also asked to submit a report within two days by visiting sites.
The demand for EVs has seen a sharp rise following the rise in fossil fuel prices. The announcement of the EV policy last year by the state government has the provision for incentives to early adopters of electric vehicles aside from benefits offered by the Central Government. With all these factors, the trend of buying EVs is gaining momentum.
In order to meet the rising demand for charging stations, the civic body has decided to set up charging stations at 20 places. Two of them have already been set up, however, the operation has not yet started. A private player had also opened a charging station with 21 charging points in the Turbhe TTC area in July 2021. The facility is claimed to be India’s largest charging station.
The civic administration is encouraging the use of the maximum number of electric vehicles from the point of view of an eco-friendly city.
