Arvind Kejriwal inaugurates 7 electric vehicle charging stations, says Delhi becoming EV capital of India

Arvind Kejriwal inaugurates seven electric vehicle stations across national capital, says Delhi is becoming EV capital of India, reports PTI.

Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated seven EV charging stations at bus depots across Delhi on July 27. He announced that Delhi is emerging as the electric vehicle capital of India with such vehicles accounting for 9.3 percent of all vehicles bought in the city so far this year, which is the highest in the country. Delhi has more than 2,000 charging stations, according to official figures.

The new charging stations have been developed at DTC's Rajghat, IP Estate, Kalkaji, Nehru Place, Mehrauli, Dwarka Sector-2 & Dwarka Sector-8 bus depots. They will be open for all EV owners with low-cost slow & fast charging setups. A tariff of Rs 3 per unit has been fixed for slow chargers and Rs 10 per unit for fast chargers. Kejriwal said the Delhi government had implemented the Electric Vehicle Policy in 2020.

"At that time, we were not expecting such a huge response which we have received. In the past two years, 60,846 electric vehicles have been purchased in Delhi. Last year, 25,809 were purchased and this year, only seven months have passed and yet 29,845 vehicles have been sold already. "This means that there has been an increase of 115 percent and we're anticipating that this will further increase by the end of the year," he said.

Noting that the people of Delhi have started to accept electric vehicles as a mode of transportation, he said once the people accept anything, cultural change sets in as they are replacing their older vehicles with electric vehicles. Sharing data about the sales of electric vehicles, he said out of all the vehicles purchased in the city in 2022, 9.3 percent were electric vehicles. Mostly, these vehicles are two-wheelers as there has been an increase of 57 percent in the purchase of two-wheeler electric vehicles.

"We have already purchased 150 electric buses and we will procure 2,000 more such buses by the end of 2023. Today, seven charging stations are being inaugurated in DTC bus depots. Already, 2,000 charging points are operational in Delhi. The charging stations we have inaugurated today are an addition to that infrastructure," he asserted. The chief minister also said the One Delhi App developed by the government displays nearby charging stations in case one needs to charge their vehicle.

"I request every electric vehicle owner to download this App. The App also displays which charging station is fully occupied and which charging station can accommodate a user at any point in time. The App is very efficient and people are benefiting from its services," he said.

"It is a modern charging station with all the facilities. Delhi is becoming the EV capital of the country. The growth in the purchase of electric vehicles in Delhi is the highest in the country. We have already surpassed the target for this year as people are buying the vehicles in a huge number. We will receive 75 electric buses next month. The impact of switching to electric vehicles will be huge in the near future," he said.

Officials said out of 60,846 electric vehicles that have been sold in Delhi, two-wheelers comprise 41.7 percent. They said the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and the state-run Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) have agreed to provide charging facilities for EV vehicles to the people at DTC depots.

The Delhi government has already set up charging facilities for EV vehicles at seven DTC depots while the government also plans to provide infrastructure for EV charging at all bus depots wherever it is convenient. "At the state level, the share of EV vehicles in total vehicle sales is 7.5 percent in Assam, 5.7 percent in Karnataka, 4.9 percent in Maharashtra, 4.3 percent in Uttar Pradesh, and 4.2 percent in Gujarat," an official said.

To promote the purchase and usage of electric vehicles, the Delhi government is also increasing the number of charging points. At present, there are around 2,000 charging points and battery swapping points in Delhi.

At the same time, 500 charging points have been installed so far under the single window facility. In addition, the public charging infrastructure is being further upgraded for the convenience of EV vehicle owners. For this, 100 charging stations will be built in the next three months to cover every corner of Delhi, he added.

(With inputs from PTI)