Electric Vehicles to move around in Visakhapatnam soon

Though a few electric two-wheelers are spotted moving on the roads of Visakhapatnam, the task of promoting electric vehicles and motorcycles to decrease vehicular pollution in the city would be difficult as there is lack of basic essentialities such as charging stations which help in charging the vehicles.

Electric Vehicles would not just help in controlling pollution, but would also help in saving foreign exchange by decreasing oil imports.

At every 250kms on the National Highways, charging stations have to be set up as per the policy of Union Government but the groundwork has not yet started.

Keeping in view about the different perks of using Electric Vehicles, the state government has informed the municipalities to initialize the works of setting up charging stations at select locations. New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NREDCAP) would be acting as the prime agency for the electric mobility project in AP.

Deputy Transport Commissioner, S. Venkateswara Rao, said “The prospect of waiting at charging stations for hours on end can be avoided by service providers taking discharged batteries from customers and giving them already fully charged batteries as is done in Scandinavian countries. India can take a cue from these countries to avoid teething problems as the project is only in the initial stages in our country.”

Charging points were set up at the EPDCL corporate office at Seetammadhara. EPDCL and SPDCL have proposed to open 50 charging stations in the state.

Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) AP State Energy Conservation Commission Mission CEO A. Chandrasekhar Reddy said, “The plan is to introduce 500 EVs in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati in the first phase. The Discoms (distribution companies) are ready to provide power to the charging stations.”

Credits: The Hindu