Govt invites proposals for development of EV charging infra on major highways

New Delhi: The government has invited proposals for the installation of charging stations from entities that intend to build and operate charging infrastructure on major highways and expressways in the country.

The Department of Heavy Industries has floated an Expression of Interest for inviting proposals from government organizations, PSUs (State/Central), government-owned DISCOMs, oil PSUs, and similar other public and private entities to build and operate public EV charging infrastructure.

Proposals have been invited from interested entities to build and operate EV charging infrastructure on the Mumbai – Pune, Ahmedabad-Vadodara, Delhi-Agra Yamuna, Bengaluru-Mysore, Bengaluru-Chennai, Surat – Mumbai, Agra-Lucknow, Eastern Peripheral and Hyderabad-ORR Expressways.

Similarly, proposals have also been invited from entities for highways including Delhi-Srinagar, Delhi–Kolkata, Agra-Nagpur, Meerut to Gangotri Dham, Mumbai – Delhi, Mumbai-Panaji, Mumbai-Nagpur, Mumbai-Bengaluru, and Kolkata to Bhubaneswar.

Under Phase-II of the FAME India Scheme, the Government of India (GoI) intends to support the development of EV charging infrastructure by extending capital grants to organizations for promoting the use of Electric Vehicles (EVs).

The Centre has approved Phase-II of the FAME India Scheme [Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India], for 3 years commencing from 1st April 2019.

Its main focus is the electrification of public and shared transportation.