With more aggregators moving to e-bikes, 35 charging stations to come up in South Delhi

A senior official of South MCD said that Telecommunication Corporation India Limited (a public sector enterprise) has been accorded permission to set up electric vehicle charging stations for two-wheelers in August last week and they are in the process of setting up these stations.

The civic body has finalised 13 locations, a survey has been done and eleven sites have been found suitable. The locations finalised are Maharani Bagh, Andrew Gunj, Pamposh Enclave, Masjid Moth, Moti Bagh, Lajpat Nagar. Most of the locations are those that are facing flyovers like DND, Dhaula Kuan, Modi Mill flyover, R & R hospital.

By next year, the civic bodies estimate that the number of electronic two-wheelers would rise significantly with new companies entering into the venture, government subsidies, application-based and e-commerce salespersons using them and rising prices of petrol making electric bikes economical.

The number of electronic bikes is also expected to rise in the city in the coming days as civic bodies including New Delhi Municipal Council, South and North Corporation have also planned around 65 such stations which will have e-cycle and e-bikes.

The New Delhi Municipal Council is giving a fresh push to its ambitious e-scooter plan, which was halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The council has planned to invite bids for 1,000 e-scooters on a public-private partnership (PPP) model to be set up at around 100 locations in the Lutyens’ Delhi area.

“These stations are planned on Ring Road or Outer Ring Road and near metro stations to encourage their use for last-mile connectivity,” he said. These stations can also be used to charge three-wheelers, he added.

Jha said that two-wheelers take less time to charge while cars take more time, as a reason it was decided to start exclusive stations for bikes. Also, they constitute 67 per cent of vehicular pollution, he said.

TCIL will be responsible for the installation, maintenance and operation of the e-charging and battery swapping stations.  The PSU will get space for running each facility by SDMC and they will in return share revenue.

The stations would have solar panels and can also run on solar energy. Arrangements for drinking water and free Wi-Fi is also planned.