Arjun Ram Meghwal inaugurates EV charging infrastructure

New Delhi: Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Arjun Ram Meghwal inaugurated DC-001 Fast DC charging infrastructure to promote e-mobility. The inauguration ceremony took place at Ashram Chowk, HPCL Servi-Circle REIL in New Delhi in the presence of Praveen L Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Department of Heavy Industries, Dr AK Jain, Managing Director REIL, and other dignitaries and officers of HPCL and REIL.

'Electric mobility is a thing of the future'

On this occasion, the minister stated that about 150 billion dollar of oil is imported in the country, which we can reduce through electric mobility. Referring to the Swachhta Pakhwada and citing the example of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, he called upon the people to undertake a cleanliness drive by themselves. He said that electric mobility is a thing of the future and to make it a success, the Department of Heavy Industries is working very actively and efficiently in this project in an effort to develop charging infrastructure under the Fame Scheme.

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'DHI has 350 EV charging stations'

Praveen L Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Department of Heavy Industries (DHI), talked about the Fame scheme of the government of India and said that a fund of Rs 10,000/- crore has been fixed for e-mobility. He also said that DHI has 350 electric vehicle charging stations (DC SMART, DC-FAST-100 KW), in Ranchi, Bangalore, Goa, Shimla, Hyderabad, Agra and five highways (Delhi-Jaipur, Jaipur-Agra, Agra-Delhi, Delhi-Chandigarh and Mumbai-Pune) and has secured approval for the establishment of another project. An EV charging station has been set up at the retail outlets of HPCL on the Mumbai-Pune highway. In addition to this, one solar-based EV charger is being installed in Delhi and National Highway (Delhi-Jaipur). Various oil companies like HPCL, IOCL and BPCL are keen on installing these EV chargers at their pump outlets.

'REIL planning to manufacture EVs'

On this occasion, REIL's Managing Director stated that REIL has plans to manufacture electrical vehicle chargers in technical collaboration with reputed manufacturers under the Make in India initiative. The process for identification of the manufacturer has already been started by the company and there are plans to connect EV charging infrastructure with oil CPSEs and utility companies through its eight regional offices. REIL has so far undertaken a pilot project for the deployment of 200 EV Chargers (150 AC and 50 DC) in three cities such as Delhi, Jaipur and Chandigarh. So far, REIL has set up charging stations on the Jaipur-Delhi and Delhi-Chandigarh highways for the convenience of EV owners and taxi operators for inter-city transport. All the charging stations established under the above scheme are in public places in government parking areas like Municipal Corporation, Metro and Railway parking etc.

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