New Delhi, March 1 Power PSUs' joint venture EESL is set to ramp up its capital expenditure to set up around 10,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the next two to three years.
A joint venture of PSUs under the Ministry of Power, the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has undertaken this project to boost the e-mobility ecosystem in India.
Presently, the state-run firm has tied up with various private and public companies such as Apollo Hospitals, BSNL, Maha-Metro, BHEL and HPCL, among others, to set up public charging infrastructure.
It has also partnered with urban local bodies in Hyderabad, Noida, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Chennai, and is in discussion with others to erect such infra.
"We are working towards strengthening the charging infrastructure with an objective to set up 10,000 charging stations over the next two to three years across India," EESL Managing Director Saurabh Kumar told .
"We are in the process of signing MoUs with various states and government departments to promote EV adoption in India, which will further boost interest among the public," Kumar added.
One of the main capital requirements to set up charging infrastructure is the availability of 'land', which as of now is provided free of cost by most municipal bodies or firms for public chargers to EESL.
The clean energy major then sets up the charging station in that area and operates it for 10 years.
In return, EESL pays a certain proportion as land rental to the entity for every kilowatt hour (kW/h) the company utilises.
Till now, EESL has installed 68 public charging points, which are currently operational across the country.
"By the end of FY20, we aim to install around 100 charging stations in Delhi-NCR, Chennai and Nagpur," Kumar told .
"We are aiming to install around 1,500 EV public charging stations by the end of FY21 in Delhi-NCR, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Gujarat, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Chandigarh and Karnataka," he added.
Currently, many automobile companies and others, including standalone charging infrastructure developers, are also installing these facilities.
Besides, the company has registered an annual turnover of Rs 2,565 crore in FY19.
"In less than one year, we have earned a revenue of over Rs 9.3 lakh from our charging stations. EESL Capex is expected to be Rs 3,000 crore in 2019-20 and Rs 6,000 crore in 2020-21," he said.
As of now, apart from creating an e-mobility ecosystem in the country, EESL is scaling up smart meters and smart grids, storage and other clean energy technologies.
Furthermore, the company is in the process of aggregating the demand generation for EVs in the country via bulk purchases.
(Rohit Vaid can be contacted at rohit.v@.in)
( With inputs from IANS )