Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure: The government may launch a mobile app within the next two months to provide an integrated view of electric vehicle (EV) charging and battery swapping stations. According to a Moneycontrol report, a senior government official has told that apart from other things, this app will also give information about the location and capacity of these stations. The development of this app and the leadership of its launch has been given to NITI Aayog. The official said that charging point operators and equipment manufacturers have come on a platform to share necessary information with this app.
All charging stations will be visible
Currently due to lack of interoperability, an EV customer of a particular brand has the option of using only charging stations belonging to that specific brand/model. For example, if you currently have a Tata electric car, you will see only Tata’s charging infrastructure on the company’s app. But on this new app, charging infrastructure of all brands like MG, Mercedes, EESL etc. will be visible. This app will be available for use in the next two months.
What facilities will be available
Initially this app will show the location of the charging station, connector, whether the charging station is on or not, its capacity etc. Vehicle connectors transmit power from the charging station to the electric car’s onboard charger. The onboard charger converts the AC current to DC current and then recharges the battery pack of the electric vehicle. Battery swapping stations and fast/slow chargers will also be visible in this app. The app will also show whether the charging station is open (O), or captive (C), or semi-public (SP). Charging stations owned by a brand or fleet are called captive, while semi-public charging stations are set up on private land but are open to public use such as parking. Open or public charging stations are installed along roadsides, retail shopping centers, government facilities and parking areas. The government official says that, “Later the government intends to include features like booking and payment in the application.”
Hotels also came forward
Currently, there are over 7,000 public charging stations available in the country, but India needs one charging station for every 75 electric four-wheelers. Oil marketing companies have been allocated Rs 800 crore to set up 22,000 fast chargers at fuel pumps under FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles). Several large hotels have also installed EV charging stations at their properties and plan to expand further to cater to the growing number of EV commuters. Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) installed 224 EV charging stations across its 92 properties last year, while Marriott International has partnered with ChargeZone to set up 100 charging stations. Along with this, other hotel chains are also making efforts in this direction.
Also read :- Car like but not a car, know the story of this EV smaller than Tata Nano
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