A major step towards electric mobility, Tata Power plans to add 700 electric vehicle charging stations to its existing network by next year, as said by a top company official.
There are already 100 fast-charging stations installed by the company in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, and Hyderabad. The company plans to increase this to 300 by March 2020.
“We are mapping the locations where EVs are launched and we will be setting up charging stations in those cities. Our aim is to take this number to around 700 by next year,” said the company’s CEO and Managing Director Praveer Sinha to PTI.
Sinha added that the company will not be just focusing on public spaces but also offer EV charging stations that are home-based. The government acknowledged the EV market by deciding to lower the GST rate for EVs to 5% rather than 12%. By doing this, the affordability of EVs to customers with additional income-tax deduction is expected to rise.
“We will create infrastructure for home charging as well as public charging like at metro stations, shopping malls, theatres, and highway, among others,” Sinha said.
The company is already in talks with metro rail authorities and municipal corporations for setting up EV charging stations. Besides, it will set up charging stations at Tata Group-owned outlets such as Chroma, WestSide, Titan watch showroom, and Indian Hotels, among others.
Tata Power has also signed MoUs for setting up commercial EV charging stations at HPCL, IOCL, and IGL retail outlets.
In Mumbai, the company has already set up 30 station, which it expects to increase to 200 by next year. Company’s Head-EV and home automation Sandeep Bangia said from the standard 15 kW stations, the companies may also look at installing charging stations that will adhere to 30-50 kW standards as demand grows.
Source: PTI