Till 2010 Commonwealth Games, free charging ports for electric cars

Power discom BSES will install free-of-cost charging posts for electric vehicles across Delhi.

The east-Delhi discom, BSES Yamuna, installed the first such post at IP Extension on Monday.

Electric vehicles can be charged free of cost till the Commonwealth Games next year, as a contribution to the government’s “green” tag to the Games, officials said.

Monday was also the National Energy Conservation day.

To begin with, this facility will be available at various locations in central and east Delhi. The discom has signed an agreement with electric carmaker Reva, which enjoys a government subsidy in Delhi.

The first charge port is at BYPL's 66KV Grid Store (near Hasanpur Depot) in I P Extension.

“Energy conservation is the need of the hour. Working towards energy conservation is a step in the right direction to combat global warming,” said Ramesh Narayanan, CEO, BYPL.

A similar initiative will also be rolled out in south and west Delhi. The location of each of these charge ports are being selected on the basis of customer data of electric vehicles users," said a company official.

“Delhi registers the highest number of cars and their per capita usage in India.

With increasing popularity of zero-emission electric vehicles, it is only a matter of time that environment-conscious Delhiites reduce their carbon footprint and switch to greener modes of transport,” said Narayanan.

“BYPL is also looking to encourage the use of electric vehicles amongst its work force,” added Mr Narayanan.

There are around 170 users of electric vehicles, mainly the Reva. There are a few scooter as well.

Experts have long argued that charging ports are needed across the city so as to encourage people about buying these vehicles.