THANE: Gearing up for the new-age electric
cars to roll out on the streets shortly, the Thane municipal administration has drawn up plans to set-up a good 100 public electric charging stations across the lake city.
Municipal commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal, who has initiated several zero-carbon emission initiatives for inter-city mobility, is believed to have identified key locations to start 50 e-charging station for the hybrid four-wheelers and motorcyles in the first phase.
“From the era of fill it, shut it, forget it we will be moving towards open it, plug it and forget it with battery-operated vehicles gaining preference among the people. However, the main cause of concern would be the charging stations and the
civic administration has decided to step in and start 100 e-charging stations which will not only outnumber the present petrol pumps but will be convenient for the citizens,’’ a senior
TMC official told TOI.
An international delegation called on Jaiswal in his office on Tuesday and he is understood to have informed them about his complete preparedness to meet the demands of the e-vehicles. A trial station will be set up by October with help from experts, the civic administration declared. The administration is working on identifying amenity plots where these stations are likely to be set up.
The initiative will be completely funded by the administration with technical help from international experts.
“In the first year, we will bear 75% cost of charging and in the next year, around 50% and kin the third year, we will pay 25% of the cost of the charging which will make the initiative lucrative for the users,” informed Sunil Pote, deputy city engineer and in-charge of electricity department at TMC.
The stations may come near malls, railway stations, markets & bus stations
Each station will have four to five charging points with connections secured from MSEDCL
Motorists will be able to plug in their vehicles to the charging points
Between 30 minutes to two hours depending on technology used for charging
Initial 50 charging stations to be installed by October