Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain inaugurated Delhi’s first electric vehicle smart charging station at South Extension on Monday. This move is taken in line with the previous notified solar policy and electric vehicle policy of the Delhi Government and will bolster green and sustainable initiatives of the Delhi Government in the energy and mobility sector.

The charging station was setup in partnership between BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL), Gensol Charge Pvt Ltd and Techperspect. To create an ecosystem of e-mobility, BSES entered into partnerships with several organisations to set-up over 150 smart electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in its licensed area of which 50 smart EV charging stations will be deployed in FY 2019-2020, a senior BSES official said. 

Addressing the gathering Jain said, “This charging station, first of 50 in 2019-2020 with over 150 planned with multiple partnerships will bolster decentralized energy management and battery storage which are key governance components of Delhi’s sustainability roadmap.”

“The ElectreeFi app will streamline the process for consumers through seamless user experience and provide analytics for decision support. I congratulate the Power Department and BSES Rajdhani for speedily aligning themselves with the vision of the Delhi Government in sustainability, energy, and environment enumerated through the solar policy and electric vehicle policy,” he added.

A senior BSES official said that BSES has entered into partnerships with several organisations to set-up over 150 smart EV charging stations across its licensed area. Of this, around 50 smart EV charging stations will be set-up in FY 2019-20.

The official said that these smart charging stations being set-up are truly smart and equipped with an ‘analytic platform’,   which will help Electric Vehicle (EV) owners get a seamless online experience. Through the ElectreeFi  Mobile App, a EV consumer can locate the nearest charging station, make advance online booking and even pay on-line through multiple options like credit / debit cards, E Wallets, UPI and BHIM.  This will help them avoid long-ques.

Amal Sinha, CEO of BRPL said that along with promoting renewable power in a big-way, the discom is now gearing-up to aggressively push the case of electric vehicles and their charging. “For this, we are engaging with key stakeholders and domain experts to evolve strategies and framework to create an ecosystem for the promotion of E-mobility,” he said, adding that as part of this resolve, we have also started inducting a fleet of electric cars and partnering organisations to set-up a network of e charging stations - both for the captive use and for our consumers.”

“The tentative total cost of charging, including the cost of electricity (as per DERC tariff) and the overheads (parking charges, recovery of equipment cost etc) is expected to be between Rs. 160-Rs. 200. This translates into rate of Rs 1.60 to Rs 1.80 per km, which is extremely competitive compared to petrol, diesel and even CNG vehicles. Thus a user can save substantially per km on an electric vehicle. Apart from this, an EV will lead to a savings of over eight tonnes of carbon dioxide annually,” the official said.