The electric vehicle infrastructure including charging stations is far from satisfactory in the state capital even though the government is focusing on alternative fuel and pushing for eVs. The government efforts has led to an increase in number of e-vehicles on the roads but charging and repair facilities have failed to keep pace.
In fact, there is no charging station in the city and while the two-wheelers and three-wheeler owners have to do it themselves, there are charging points in the four showrooms of the only car company, which is producing the electric four-wheelers in India as of now.
The state government charges a nominal 1 per cent of the cost as registration fee for e-vehicles as compared to 8 per cent to 16 per cent for petrol and diesel vehicles respectively obviously with an intention to promote their use but it doesn’t seem to be enough to achieve the objective in the absence of sound infrastructure to let people use electric vehicle without any hitch or problem.
As of now, 1,640 two vehicles, 1,785 e-rickshaws, 186 four wheelers and 176 goods carrier run by battery are registered with RTO, Bhopal, but president of Bhopal Automobile Association, Ashish Pandey, said the numbers could be much higher because the slow speed e-vehicles (with a speed of less than 40 Kms per hour) are not required to register themselves with the RTO.
Besides, Greecell Mobility is plying 10 e-buses between Bhopal and Indore on a trial basis to see that all the facilities are in places to run e-buses on the route and once the trial run is successfully done, the company will run 50 e-buses between Bhopal and Indore by the end of August.
“We are having a trial run of 10 buses currently to examine the infrastructure and processes are in place and once the trial is successfully done, we propose to run 50 buses between Bhopal and Indore during a day by the end of August for the transport department of MP,” said Priya Zutshi of Greencell Mobility.
When asked how the company proposes to run long-distance buses when there is no charging station in Bhopal, she said that they would establish their own charging stations on the route and would not only be self-reliant themselves but would also allow other vehicles to use their facility.
Ashish Pandey said that as far as sales of e-vehicles is concerned, currently it’s 1 per cent of the passenger vehicles (four wheelers) sold and on-an-average 50 two wheelers a day but there is no charging station in the city except for charging points in the car showrooms of the company, which sells the e-cars and as far as two wheelers are concerned, they have to do it themselves at home or anywhere else according to their convenience.
Between Bhopal and Indore, there is a charging station somewhere near Dodi, he said, when asked if someone has to use his e-car to reach Indore, how would he ensure charging of the car battery on the way.
He said that charging stations not only keep people assured but they also cost far less in recharging of battery than charging done at home or somewhere else by the people themselves.
“At a charging station, you will spend Rs 150 to Rs 200 for fully charging the battery while at home, you may end up spending Rs 180 to Rs 500 for a car”, he said.
Mittu Mehta, who runs a showroom of e-vehicles (two wheelers) said that charging stations would definitely add to the comfort level of commuters using e-vehicles but as of now, people are doing it at home or anywhere they find convenient in the absence of charging stations and the fact that e-vehicles (two wheelers) have a portable battery, they are able to do it.
“We dealers of e-two wheelers are planning to install charging points at our showrooms but it has not taken concrete shape as yet,” he said.
