Over 4,000 registered electric vehicles in Chandigarh, but still no public charging facility

All six operational stations in Chandigarh are operated by a private firm, while those readied by the UT administration for public use at affordable rates continue to lie non-functional

Even as over 4,000 electric vehicles have been registered in Chandigarh in the past five years, the UT administration has failed to make operational even a single public charging station in the city.

In the absence of a public charging facility, users of electric vehicles are forced to either charge their vehicles at home or at a private charging station, where the prices are more expensive. (Sanjeev Sharma/HT)

In reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Union minister of road transport and highways General VK Singh (retd) said there were 4,161 registered electric vehicles in Chandigarh and six charging stations were operational.

However, all these six stations are operated by a private firm, while those readied by the UT administration for public use at affordable rates continue to lie non-functional.

Consequently, users of electric vehicles are forced to either charge their vehicles at home or at a private charging station, where the prices are more expensive.

Over 4,000 registered electric vehicles in Chandigarh, but still no public charging facility

Confirming this, Debendra Dalai, chief executive officer, Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST), said, “While Chandigarh has six operational private charging stations, we have yet to launch the public charging stations. As many as 23 stations are ready, but there are some hiccups with regard to the lease with the agency that will manage them. Once these are sorted out, we will open them to public.”

Notably, the UT administration had notified its Electric Vehicle Policy on September 20 with the aim to make Chandigarh a “model EV city” by achieving one of the highest penetration of zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) among all Indian cities by the end of the policy period of five years.

Earlier in November, the UT administration had allotted the work for setting up charging stations at various locations across the city to two firms and said that these will be functional by November end.

The Centre had sanctioned 48 charging stations for Chandigarh under Phase 1 of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) India scheme. Though 23 of the sanctioned stations have been installed, they remain non-functional.

Under the policy, EV owners charging their vehicles at home will pay domestic rates, while those charging at public stations will be charged ₹8 per unit for slow or medium charging, ₹10 per unit for fast charging and ₹11 per unit for battery swapping.

UT had even assured that for the convenience of EV users, CREST will soon develop a mobile application to provide real-time information about charging stations, such as updates on time slot, type of station, load, location and tariff, but nothing has been done so far.

As per the proposal, in the first two years of the EV policy period, 100 public charging stations will be installed in Chandigarh. Within six months, all petrol stations will have to set up charging stations. If there is inadequate space, owners will make necessary arrangements for installing the charging stations in the nearby parking area.