Saturday, 06 April 2024 | PURNIMA BISHT | DEHRADUN
As part of the Central government’s project to promote electric vehicle use to protect the environment, the Transport department will install 28 unmanned electric vehicle (EV) charging stations on the Char Dham routes in Uttarakhand. The consumer will have to first scan the QR code installed at a charging station to pay in advance as per the need to charge the vehicle. No person will be present there to serve the consumers. The department is also developing an app through which people can know beforehand about the locations of charging stations, how many people are in queue to charge their vehicles and when exactly they will get their turn, the regional transport officer (Administration) Sunil Sharma said.
He said that the department received an amount of Rs 7.4 crore from the Centre for this project. The department has made Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) the nodal agency of this project that will ensure the installation of these EV charging stations across the route. The GMVN will also install such stations near its guest houses. He said that each of these charging stations will be installed at a distance of about 35 to 40 kilometres from each other on Char Dham routes and tourists will not have to worry about finding charging stations. Every charging station will have three guns out of which, two will be fast chargers.
“The fast chargers can charge the vehicle within an hour while the normal charger will take about four to six hours. People staying in GMVN guest houses can put up their vehicles to get charged during the night. The new EVs approximately consume 40 kilowatt hours (kWh) to 60 kWh of electricity. Such vehicles use about 30 units of electricity per charge. Depending on slow and fast charging, it will cost about Rs 450 to Rs 600 per charge in the charging station. An EV can easily travel about 250 kilometres on each full charge. It will also be highly cost efficient for EV owners compared to petrol or diesel-fuelled vehicles,” the RTO said. He said that besides promoting clean-fuelled vehicles, this project will also promote tourism in those locations that often remain unexplored by tourists.
“The GMVN will install many charging stations in such areas that have the potential to be tourist spots but remain unexplored. When people wait while getting their EV charged, they can explore the nearby places that will give such locations more exposure and potential to bloom among other tourists,” Sharma said. The GMVN has received 11 charging stations setups and will receive the remaining soon. The department is yet to get an electricity connection from Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) to operate these charging stations. All pending works will be completed before the onset of Char Dham Yatra, he added.
