As part of its ongoing mission to transform expressway infrastructure of Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government has started the process for the installation of charging stations with ‘battery swapping’ system for e-vehicles on the state’s Yamuna Expressway, Agra-Lucknow Expressway, Bundelkhand Expressway, Purvanchal Expressway and Gorakhpur Link Expressway.
According to the plan, the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) has initiated the process of installing charging stations with a ‘battery swapping’ system for electric vehicles on the state’s expressway routes. These public charging stations will be developed on the basis of PPP model and applications have been invited from interested companies for the development of these stations through e-tender portal. Along with this, necessary guidelines have also been issued for charge point operators in the RPF process.
Notably, selected applicants for the development of charging stations will be provided land by UPEIDA on a nominal lease for 10 years. Additionally, UPEIDA will offer 100 per cent financial support for the development of the ‘Behind the Metre Power Structure.’
UPEIDA has submitted the tender for public charging stations based on the PPP model through the e-tender portal on October 20. According to this, interested applicants can submit their applications from November 11 to November 28, after which the tender will open on November 29. The tender fee for this is set at Rs 5,900, and the EMD amount is Rs 5 lakh.
Charge point operators will be selected to develop public charging stations through this process while UPEIDA will provide them with land and other facilities. UPEIDA will also offer 100 per cent financial support for the development of the ‘Behind the Metre Power Structure’ and UPPCL will play a significant role in this.
The state government’s vision is to set up 2,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to promote electric vehicles within the state. Among these stations, efforts are to establish 1,300 EV charging stations in municipal cities such as Agra, Lucknow and Prayagraj, while 100 in heritage sites like Ram Mandir and the Taj Mahal, 200 at tourist destinations like Mathura-Vrindavan and Varanasi-Ayodhya and another 400 in national and state parks cross the state.
In the year 2022, Uttar Pradesh implemented a new Electric Vehicle Manufacturing and Mobility Policy. Through this policy, the state aimed to provide extensive support and incentives for electric vehicles (EVs), including subsidies and other provisions.
It is believed that by 2023, there will be around 10.2 crore EVs in India. Efforts are being made to establish public EV charging stations in cities every three kilometers, on highways every 25 kilometres, and on roads used by heavy-duty vehicles every 100 kilometres to support the operation of these EVs.
