Mumbai inaugurates its first EV charging Station at Dadar

Amidst the wave of change and governments efforts to revolutionize EVs and bring in the eco-change for a greener future with the GO GREEN movement with FAME II Scheme, we can see the needed and suitable steps been taken by the BMC- Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Mumbai by setting up Mumbai’s first ever Public EV Charging Station at Dadar.

The Inauguration of EV charging Station at Dadar

The first ever EV charging station at Dadar, West Mumbai was inaugurated on August 18th, 2021 by the state environment minister Aditya at Kohinoor building parking lot. The environment minister said that more such stations would be coming up soon in Mumbai. He was further noted saying at the inauguration event that environment friendly EVs are the need of the hour and charging facilities should be made available at various public parking roads in the BMC area a study or a survey should be conducted and charging stations should be made available in more and more parking lots.

The Capacity & other details of the Charging Station

With a capacity to charge 72 vehicles in a day, this new EV charging station at Dadar has 2 DC fast chargers which can charge four vehicles at a time. The fast charger can completely charge a vehicle in about 1-1.5 hours It also houses three Domestic grade AC chargers or slow chargers that will charge three vehicles at a time. The slow charger takes about 6 to seven hours to do the same job of completely charging a vehicle.

The BMC had set up a price of rupees 15 per unit as charges towards charging. A normal full charging for an TV given a driving range of 140 to 170 kilometres requires around 20 to 30 units, which would be about ₹200 – ₹400. The charging facility as told by the civic body would be available 24*7.

The Kohinoor PPL also houses a car washing centre and lounge area for the drivers and the passengers to relax by waiting for the car to be charged and washed well enjoying tea and breakfast, which is also made available for a fee, as told by the BMC.

Inaugurated an EV enabled parking lot at Kohinoor building in Mumbai. This is very encouraging as we move in the direction of making Maharashtra Electric Vehicle friendly. pic.twitter.com/JuPJBAocsp

— Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) August 17, 2021

The Response 

With the new EV charging station at the other PPL, Assistant Municipal Commissioner G/North ward Mr. Kiran Dighavkar said that there have been many enquiries for buying an EV & so far 20 vehicles have been charged making it a good response for the setup.

Seems like people stepping forward to buy Electric Vehicles after government bodies working on to ease the charging and lowering the price of the EVs by initiating subsidies and tax benefits.

Availability of charging stations matters most for the EVs and it’s buyers else nothing is to worry about buying an EV.

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The Future Vision of BMC towards Charging Stations

To further support the revolutionary move after EV charging station at Dadar, BMC is exploring more locations on municipal properties for charging points for the eaves to be installed. The civic body is trying to set up 35 charging points which would be later increased to 100, as a part of the first phase. Officials are also planning on installing solar energy plants instead of conventional energy for these charging points. Plans of BMC for Public Electric Vehicle Charging Stations across 29 civic run public parking lots in the city are also set in order.

The BMC also flagged off five electric vehicles to be used by the civic body which are taken on lease from energy efficiency services limited, and energy service company of the Government of India for ₹ 27,000 a month including maintenance and repairs phone stop furthermore the BMC also plans to get over 40 more electric vehicles which will be used by the elected representatives and civic officials. In doing so, the big body plans to procure about 100 vehicles for official purposes and transportation of garbage by the solid waste management department in the first phase.

Furthermore, the BMC has also launched a mobile application, Otopark – for booking parking places online, whether it is to book a parking spot on a monthly basis or for making reservations an hour in advance. The application is designed to save the citizens from being penalised by sending notifications for ‘No Parking’ area and also helps them guide to the nearest available parking, said the civic body.

Earlier in July, Thackeray had introduced the Maharashtra Electric Vehicle Policy under which the state government seeks to encourage the use of battery-operated vehicles to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. In order to make the transition to electric vehicles and encourage its use, the state has also provided exemption in road tax, registration charges and property tax.