Now, book slot on app to charge your e-car in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Power minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday said fast-charging and swappable batteries for all electric vehicles are the future of environment-friendly transportation in Delhi.

Jain, who inaugurated discom BSES’ first smart public electric vehicle charging station at South Extension-II market, said these stations would act as top-up point. People can book their slots through a mobile app.

“It takes considerable time for an e-vehicle to be charged. In swappable batteries, the battery ownership will be with someone else, not with the car owners. This will be an issue as there are different manufacturers with different sockets and designs. The government will have to specify standards for these batteries and only then the scope of these vehicles will increase,” Jain told TOI.

The charging station, called Blue Smart Charge, can charge two electric vehicles (EV) simultaneously. It has been set up by BSES Rajdhani along with Gensol Charge Pvt Ltd and Techperspect. It is the first among 50 to be set up this fiscal. “Over 150 have been planned with multiple partnerships to bolster decentralised energy management and battery storage, which are key governance components of Delhi’s sustainability roadmap. People can locate the nearest EV charging station on an app on their phones, advance book a time slot and pay online,” a BSES spokesperson said.

Jain added to that: “The ElectreeFi app will streamline the process for consumers and provide analytics.”

The tentative total cost of charging will come to Rs 160-200 for a full charge. “This translates to Rs 1.6-1.8 per kilometre, which is extremely competitive compared to petrol, diesel and even CNG vehicles. Thus a user can save substantially. Apart from this, an EV will lead to a savings of over 8 tonnes of CO2 annually,” a BSES official said.

More such charging stations will come up at Dwarka, Saket, Vasant Vihar, Vasant Kunj, Nehru Place, GK 1, GK 2, Okhla, Sarita Vihar, Jasola, Shaheen Bagh, Tagore Garden, Paschim Vihar and Tilak Nagar.