Chandigarh has seen registration of over 4,000 electric vehicles in the last five years. However, the UT Administration hasn’t set up any public charging station in the city.
The issue was raised in the Rajya Sabha on December 7. In a reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, General V K Singh (retd) said there are 4,161 electric vehicles registered in Chandigarh and six charging stations are operational.
The Centre had sanctioned 48 charging stations for Chandigarh under Phase I of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) India scheme. As many as 23 fast-charging stations, of the 37 sanctioned under the FAME-II scheme, have been installed, which are yet to be functional.
A senior officer of the Chandigarh Administration in the Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science and Technology Promotion Society said that the six charging stations, reference of which was made in the Rajya Sabha, are all private charging stations.
With an aim to make Chandigarh a model EV city, the Chandigarh Administration had notified the electric vehicle policy 2022 in September this year.
As per the proposal, in the first two years of the EV policy period, 100 public charging stations will be installed in the UT. Within six months, all petrol stations will have to set up charging stations. If there is no adequate space, owners will make necessary arrangements for installing the charging stations in the nearby parking area.
Chandigarh had fixed Rs 8 per unit for slow and moderate charging, Rs 10 per unit for fast charging and Rs 11 per unit for battery swapping.
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