Chandigarh wait for powered-up electric vehicle stations gets longer

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Chandigarh, April 27

The UT Administration is all set to miss the second deadline to make electric vehicle (EV) charging stations functional.

During a press conference on March 8, Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit had stated that as many as 53 charging stations would be made functional by the end of March. Later, the authorities had assured to make the charging stations operational by the end of April. Now, they have claimed that it would take another month to energise them.

Jumping deadlines

• During a press conference on March 8, Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit had stated that as many as 53 charging stations would be made functional by the end of March.
• Later, the authorities had promised to make the charging stations operational by the end of April. Now, they claimed it would take another month to energise them.

Delayed approvals, equipment theft blamed

• CREST officials said nearly 35 charging stations would be made operational by May 31.
• The main reasons for the delay in making the charging stations functional was time taken in getting approvals from departments and theft of equipment from installed charging stations.
• An impasse between the MC and the UT Administration over installation of charging stations in parking lots had earlier delayed the project of making the charging units functional.

As per officials of Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST), electricity connections had been applied for 15 charging stations and recently, approval was granted for seven to eight stations. Now, the work of laying cables would be started, they said, and added that power connections for 15 more charging stations had also been applied.

The officials stated that nearly 35 charging stations would be made operational by May 31. The main reasons for the delay in making the charging stations functional was time taken in getting approvals from various departments and equipment stolen from the installed charging stations further deferred the operations, they added. Due to an impasse between the local Municipal Corporation and the UT Administration over the installation of charging stations in parking lots had earlier delayed the operation of the charging units.

They said 20 charging stations had already been installed and operational in private sector and three petrol pumps had also installed the charging stations. These would be sufficient for now, as nearly 8,000 electric vehicles were registered in the city. If required, land had been identified for installation of more charging stations, they added.

Three companies were allotted the work to install 53 charging stations. Two companies have completed the installation work of nearly 35 charging stations, but one company is yet to start the work. Over a period of time, thieves stole costly equipment from the unguarded EV charging stations across the city.

Later, the authorities directed the companies to install CCTV cameras and hire security guards to keep a watch on the equipment at the charging stations. The companies were to take nearly a month to replace the equipment stolen from the charging stations.

The UT Administration had notified the EV Policy on September 20, 2022. As many as 23 charging stations were installed at nine locations across the city in November 2022. These stations have a total of 92 charging guns and an equal number of vehicles can be charged simultaneously.