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Hyderabad to get electric vehicles charging stations in two years

Hyderabad: If everything goes according to plan, Hyderabad will have electric charging stations across the city in the next two years. The TRS government has embarked on an ambitious plan to give a big push to electric vehicles to deter traditional oil-combustion vehicles that cause serious air pollution.

The government will soon unveil a new electric vehicle policy to provide incentives to those who buy electric vehicles. The benefits may include lower registration charges, more number of charging points and community charging facilities.

The government's plans will be matched by Telangana Transco, which has launched efforts to set up its first electric charging station in the city. The tariff will be decided by the Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC) after talks with representatives from the automobile sector and the public. To meet the daily demand, there must be a charging station at every 40-70 kilometres.

The government is also mulling setting up community charging stations in residential colonies, malls and Metro stations. The transport department is studying the experiments by DLF, which offered free charging at some locations, and Mahindra, which entered into an agreement with a private shopping mall chain to set up free charging points in retail centres.

In May 2017, the Maharashtra electricity regulatory commission announced charging tariff for electric vehicles in Mumbai, following which Tata Power launched its first commercial EV charging station there.

"We are studying different types of EV charging systems already in place in other states. The Centre has suggested that the European combined charging system is suitable as it provides combined AC and DC charging option," said a senior government official.