- Out of 2,636 charging stations, 1,633 are fast charging stations and 1,003 will be slow charging stations
- It is expected that at least one charging station will be available in most of the selected cities in a grid of 4 km x 4 km
The government has approved setting up 2,636 electric vehicle charging stations across 62 cities in 24 states and union territories of India. This has been done under the second phase of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) India scheme.
Union heavy industries minister Prakash Javadekar said that by installing all these charging stations, it is expected that at least one charging station will be available in most of the selected cities in a grid of 4 km x 4 km. He added that this will boost the confidence of users of electric vehicles in terms of range anxiety. It will also encourage the OEMs to launch the new electric vehicle models. He further commented that these OEMs were hesitant because of lack of charging infrastructure.
Expression of Interest
Under the second phase of FAME, 317 EV charging stations have been allotted in Maharashtra, 266 in Andhra Pradesh, 256 in Tamil Nadu, 228 in Gujarat, 205 in Rajasthan, 207 in Uttar Pradesh, 172 in Karnataka, 159 in Madhya Pradesh. It has also allotted 141 in West Bengal, 138 in Telangana, and 131 in Kerala. Meanwhile, 72 EV charging stations will be set up in Delhi, 70 in Chandigarh, 50 in Haryana, 40 in Meghalaya, 37 in Bihar, 29 in Sikkim, 25 each in Jammu & Kashmir and Chhattisgarh, 20 in Assam, 18 in Odisha and 10 each in Uttarakhand, Puducherry and Himachal Pradesh.
The department of heavy industry has also invited Expression of Interest (EoI) from entities interested to set up EV charging stations in million-plus cities, smart cities, State/UT capitals and cities from special category states. They can also avail incentives for developing EV charging infrastructure under phase two of the FAME India scheme.
MoUs with concerned partner organisations
The sanction letters to the selected entities will be given in phases. It will be done after ensuring availability of land for charging stations, signing of necessary agreements and MoUs with concerned partner organisations. This will include city municipal corporations, discoms and oil companies. Then, the selected public entities will be required to the procurement process in a time bound manner for deployment of sanctioned charging stations according to a statement of ministry of heavy industries.
Around 106 proposals from public and private entities have been received for constructing about 7,000 EV charging stations so far. After evaluating these proposals on advice of the Project Implementation and Sanctioning Committee (PISC), the government sanctioned 2,636 charging stations. Out of these, 1,633 are fast charging stations and 1,003 will be slow charging stations. The government is also planning to install around 14,000 charging stations across the selected cities.