Govt Installing EV Charging Stations At 22,000 Petrol Pumps Across India: 30% Of All Petrol Pumps

India is going electric. And that too in a big way. But promoting Electric Vehicles is one thing and making it a living dream is another. When you are asking a large number of people to take up EV, you need to have a complete ecosystem ready. One of the most important parts of the ecosystem is the availability of charging stations. And it looks like the Indian Government has started taking some strong steps in the direction of the same.

Govt to set up 22,000 charging stations across India

Recently, Heavy Industries Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey, informed that work is underway to set up charging stations for electric vehicles at 22,000 of the 70,000 petrol pumps across the country. Currently, the first priority of the government would be to set up such charging stations for electric vehicles at express highways, highways, and populated cities.

Under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India)-II scheme ARAI in Pune is developing a prototype for fast charging of electric vehicles. ARAI is an institution working in the field of automobiles. It is aiming is to have it in the market by December 2022.

The government has decided to set up charging stations on express highways and populated cities first and then it will be taken down to rural areas.

India is aiming to become ‘AtmaNirbhar’ in Lithium batteries

The minister also informed that work is underway to produce lithium batteries in the country to make India self-sufficient and production linked incentive scheme (PLI) scheme of Rs. 18,100 has been evolved. The government has already floated RFP and is witnessing a good response from the industry.

At the same time, a technical committee of the Ministry of Environment has been finalized which is working on the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2019 to find a solution to the problem of waste management.

It should be noted that according to the Ministry of Power’s guidelines, there must be at least one charging station at every 25 km on both sides of a highway. It has also suggested that there is a need of least one charging station for long-range and heavy-duty EVs at every 100 km on both sides of a highway. For the city, at least one charging station will be set up in a grid of 3km by 3km.

So, with so many steps in the direction of EVs, the future might already be here, huh? what do you think?