The Noida authority on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with the state-run Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) to install 100 electric vehicle(EV) charging stations at parking lots across the city in next one year.

Noida authority chairman Alok Tandon, chief executive officer Ritu Maheshwari and managing director of EESL Saurabh Kumar signed an MOU in Sector 6 administrative building.

To begin with, the EESL will set-up one charging station in Sector 63’s H block market and one near gate number 2 of Electronic City Metro station, the last Metro station on the Blue Line.

The EESL has installed at least 55 EV charging stations in New Delhi municipal council areas, including the parking facilities at Connaught Place and Khan Market. In Uttar Pradesh, Noida will be the first city to have EV charging stations.

The objective of setting up EV charging stations is to encourage people to use electric vehicles that reduce pollution, officials said.

“The government is promoting the use of electric vehicles in order to cut pollution. Collaborating with EESL, the Noida authority has decided to set-up 100 EV charging stations in the city’s different parking facilities in next one year. We have also decided to hire five electric vehicles from EESL for our office use,” Tandon said.

Along with the Noida authority, the state-run company will set up EV charging stations in parking lots located in Sector 18, Sector 6 administrative office, Sector 50 market among other busy areas with parking facilities. The authority will also soon allow group housing complexes to set up EV charging stations on demand, officials said.

“We have over 10,000 electric vehicles, which have been given on rent to central government and other organisations. We spend ₹2 lakh on setting up one EV station. We will buy electricity supply from Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited(UPPCL) and set-up the EV charging stations. We will share revenue with the Noida authority that will provide us with the required space. People have started using electric vehicles but we do not have the exact estimate of people using it in Noida,” Saurabh Kumar, MD, EESL said.

EESL officials said electric vehicles are economically viable as the cost of driving it per kilometre is only ₹1 as compared to ₹6 per kilometre for petrol-run vehicles and ₹3.5 per kilometre for diesel-run vehicles. With one full charge, an electric vehicle will travel 120 to 130 kilometres, officials said.

Officials said charging an electric vehicle will cost ₹10 per unit and getting a full charge will cost ₹170 and will take around 90 minutes. Top-up charging will also be available for 10 to 15 minutes.

First Published: Jul 25, 2019 23:00 IST