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NEW DELHI, 28 September 2022: Nitin Gadkari, the union minister for roads and highways, made history by revealing a scale model of the cutting-edge EV charging station created by the National Highways for EV (NHEV).
Miniature model
The NHEV small model of the charging station is the first ever in the industry, and it was designed as a full-featured wayside amenities plaza that can reinvent and replace the conventional gas stations and wayside amenities that are now present on the highways.
This is a follow-up to the EODB initiative, which seeks to convert 5000 km of national highways into E-highways through its pilot project known as the National Highway for EV.
Pilot project
Buses and a long-range electric SUV are being tested as part of the pilot project’s last phase of technical and business trials, which began on September 9 on the Delhi-Jaipur line.
In 2021, this would add a 278 km stretch to the 210 km TECH-trial run between Delhi and Agra, completing a total of 500 km of technical trials spanning four states — UP, Delhi, Haryana, and Rajasthan — in its pilot phase.
Charging station v/s Petrol pumps
The unveiled miniature has highlighted the operational and economical contrast between a “Charging Station” and “Petrol Pumps,” demonstrating the urgent need for Public Private Partnership to develop a national infrastructure for charging.
It displayed all of the important metrics, including ease of setup and minimal licencing requirements, world-class “Relay Service” fleet models that could be banked and funded, and the highest potential utilisation of infrastructure and assets within a minimum breakeven period of 40 months.
Inaugural comments
During the inaugural address, Nitin Gadkari said “Since the last 3-4 years I have been talking about electric vehicles and have been answering many questions like what would happen if we broke down with an electric vehicle? However, it didn’t happen and with gradual increase in confidence the technology questions got answered.”
“Now there are waiting lists for electric cars and scooters, and I can say that electric is the fuel of the future. Currently electric double decker AC bus costs are coming to INR 60 per km, non-AC INR 39 per kilometer and for normal electric AC bus INR 41 per km and diesel bus is costing INR 115 per km. If you can bring business class comfort in an electric bus with trolley on economical ticket cost to passengers, it will make public transportation more competent for users,” Gadkari added.
Abhijeet Sinha, National Program Director, Ease of Doing Business and also Project Director NHEV at EODB Services, said “The pilot has already covered a 10% stretch between Agra-Delhi-Jaipur in two phases, out of its total 5000 km highways that India aims to upgrade as E-highways in the next 2 years.”
“The NHEV team is slating its plan to install prefabricated modules of these station’s electrical and structural infra, soon after commissioning its pilot phase. So that new stations in expansion phase can be speedily installed within 90 days from their allocations,” Sinha added.
