Mumbai’s Dadar West EV Charging Station Serves 20 Vehicles in Week 1

In Mumbai, so far 20 vehicles have used the EV charging station at the Kohinoor Building parking lot in Dadar West in a week since its inauguration on August 18, 2021 by State Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray.

“Environment-friendly electric vehicles are the need of the hour and charging facilities should be made available at various public parking lots in the BMC area. A study/survey should be conducted and charging stations should be made available in more and more public parking lots,” Thackeray had said at the inauguration event.

The BMC (or the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai), in a release, claimed last week that the station, where seven EVs can be charged at a time, is first of its kind facility to come up at a public parking lot in the state.

The BMC is also exploring locations on municipal properties where charging points for the EVs can be installed, according to media reports. In the first phase, the civic body is trying to set up 35 charging points, which will later be increased to 100. According to civic officials, plans to install solar energy plants instead of conventional energy for charging points are also being considered.

The BMC has planned Public Electric Vehicles Charging Stations (PEVCs) across 29 civic-run public parking lots in the city.
“The EV charging station at the Dadar PPL is getting good response. So far 20 vehicles have been charged. In addition, there have been many enquiries before buying an EV,” Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, G/North ward, was quoted saying.

The EV charging station at Dadar west has the capacity to charge 72 vehicles in a day, with a 2 DC fast charger, which can charge four vehicles at a time, and three slow chargers that can charge three vehicles at a time. The DC fast charger is industrial-grade equipment, which can completely charge a vehicle in 1-1.5 hours, whereas the domestic-grade AC charger or slow charger takes six to seven hours to do the same job.

Earlier this month, Tata Motors delivered 35 state-of-the-art Starbus electric buses (e-bus) as a part of the larger order of 340 electric buses to Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST). BEST is a civic transport and electricity provider public body based in Mumbai, Maharashtra.