Hyderabad: To cater to the needs of increasing battery vehicles in the city, the Department of Heavy Industries is working on setting up 118 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.
Apart from Hyderabad, 10 EV charging stations each are also coming up in Warangal and Karimnagar taking the total EV charing stations to 138 in the State. At present, there are 50 EV charging stations in Hyderabad, with most of them being located in metro stations.
Telangana State Renewable Energy Development Corporation Ltd (TSREDCO), the nodal agency appointed by the State government, is looking after the establishing process of 138 EV charging stations in the State and is gearing up to make these facilities available within six months.
These charging stations were proposed under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) II programme of the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises for promoting the use of electric vehicles by offering reliable and accessible charging infrastructure.
According to the officials of TSREDCO, these stations are coming up near metro stations, government lands and public places. “Each station would cost a minimum of Rs 50 lakh to Rs 60 lakh while the bigger ones may cost up to Rs 1.30 crore,” said a senior official.
The new EV charging stations will mostly have fast chargers, which will have five plugs and can charge a vehicle in 60 to 90 minutes. In moderate charging and slow charging stations, it would take more time for a vehicle to be fully charged.
With the citizens feeling the pinch of a steady hike of fuel prices, enhancing EV infrastructure would encourage them to adopt eco-friendly vehicles. Moreover, this will help in reducing the rising pollution levels in the city, officials pointed out.
Officials said that each public charging station requires an exclusive transformer with all related substation equipment including safety appliance, appropriate civic works, cabling and electric works.
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