India heading towards electric mobility from internal combustion engine: NHEV

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India is actively inching towards electric mobility and is counting on battery swapping stations as one of the solutions to facilitate the switch from the internal combustion engine (ICE) based vehicles to electric vehicles, said Abhijeet Sinha, Project Director, National Highway for Electric Vehicle (NHEV), on Friday while talking about the commercial viability of battery swapping.

The NHEV Working Group discussed the recommendations for battery swapping units to be installed on NHEV prototype stations in Gurugram and Noida to see the techno-commercial viability, utilisation, and breakeven tenure for their investors. The members decided on solutions of battery subscription and swapping to conclude real-time exchange and transaction of e2W and e3W batteries for EV users to ascertain their faith in transparency in the swap.

"This is our second prototype station constructed in a record 30 days for Delhi-Jaipur E-Highway. Two more stations of the same size and scale will be installed in Noida within 60 days for Delhi-Agra E-Highway, which will conclude the prototype modelling of E-hubs. Abhijeet Sinha said that thirty more E-Highway charging stations will be constructed within a record time of 90 days from their date of allocations to PSUs, private entities".

He added that these charging stations are commercially and technically competing with petrol pumps now with 72 percent utilisation and 36 month breakeven with increased capacity to charge 1,000 cars at this station and 576 vehicles at Sector 52 station. These simple prototypes have proved that e-highway stations of NHEV will be world-class and draw a robust commercial roadmap of E-mobility on Indian highways.

Working Group Chair V K. Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog, congratulated the NHEV Working Group for commissioning two of India`s largest charging stations in Gurugram with a charging capacity of 1,000 cars in 24 hours and suggested that these stations should be planned in a way to dispense hydrogen to heavy vehicles in the near future.

Lauding the efforts of the NHEV team, Sudhendu J. Sinha, Adviser (Infrastructure, Connectivity - Transport and Electric Mobility), NITI Aayog, said: "NHEV has not only made a 30-day record of building largest station in size but also the most profitable station in the nation which shall include battery swapping and significant revenue amenities to compete with diesel "petrol pump earnings".

With inputs from IANS