EV charging stations in city gain traction slowly

Chandigarh: As electric vehicles gain greater footprint in the city, the user count of public charging stations is picking up speed gradually.
Public charging stations have earned a revenue of Rs 95,091 in the first three months after being operationalised. A revenue of Rs 2,732 was raised from charging of EVs at public charging stations in June, which increased to Rs 15,669 in July and Rs 76,690 in August.

In this period, EVs were plugged-in for around 590 times.
“There is an upsurge in the number of charging sessions and battery swapping in August. But if compared to the total number of EVs in the city, the usage remains very low. Around 15,000 EVs, including 5,500 three-wheelers and 4,000 two-wheelers, are registered in the city. There are efforts to increase the number of users,” said an official.
In the first month after operationalization, EV charging stations were used only 19 times in June. This increased to 165 in July and 407 in August.
The charging stations also offer battery swapping. In the first two months, there was not a single instance of battery swapping at the battery swapping stations (BSS). But last month, 3,641 battery swapping instances were registered.
There are eight locations where public EV charging stations have become operational. The Chandigarh EV Policy 2022 envisaged setting up of 100 charging stations across UT by covering at least 1 charging station in every parking area. But recently, the administration decided to limit the number to 39 stations for the time being.