Changes To Electricity Act Being Considered To Boost EV Stations Growth

0
Changes To Electricity Act Being Considered To Boost EV Stations Growth
Changes To Electricity Act Being Considered To Boost EV Stations Growth

India’s power ministry is reportedly evaluating a proposal to end the restrictions related to electricity sales as one of the ways to speed up growth in vehicle charging stations in the country, a ministry official with knowledge of the matter said.

Such a measure would require the amendment of the Electricity Act which does allows only power distributors to sell electricity.

The official said that two committees have been constituted to study the surrounding policy issues as well as the technical specifications of the various options possible. The other options include that the entities referred to as discoms selling electricity to charging-station operators directly or create their own charging-station franchises.

The spokesperson for the power ministry has refused to comment.

Poor Access To Charging Stations Can Harm EV Adoption

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal to have mostly electric vehicles on the roads by 2030 may be hampered by the low availability of charging stations.

India currently has just around 350 public EV chargers as compared with around 57,000 petrol stations, according to a July Bloomberg New Energy Finance report. China on the other hand  is said to have nearly 215,000 charging points installed at the end of 2016.

The Managing Director of the government owned Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. Saurabh Kumar recently said that the restriction on selling power was a “big challenge” as charging stations can’t be built in existing gas stations or parking lots.

The EESL has issued an initial tender for procuring 10,000 EVs in order to replace  the several government vehicles operating in the New Delhi region. The organization has also awarded bids for setting up charging stations.

Exicom Tele-Systems Ltd. won one of the bids to supply 125 chargers. Other companies such as Tata Power Co Ltd. and Noway’s Fortum OYJ  have also expressed an interest in setting up charging infrastructure in India.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here