As part of the government’s push towards green energy, India is likely to get the world’s longest electric vehicle (EV) highway by the end of 2022. The Atal Harit Vidyut Rashtriya Mahamarg (AHVRM) is named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. However, the highway will be renamed once the construction is finished. The total length of AHVRM will be nearly 500 kilometres.
The project was supposed to be announced last year during PM Narendra Modi’s Jewar airport foundation stone laying speech but due to slow progress amid lockdowns the announcement was deferred. With the next general elections two years away, the central government is now mulling finishing the project by the end of 2022 or early 2023.
“To start with, we will have 100 electric cars and 25 electric buses on both the highways. Cars will be available for hiring as self-driven and with chauffeur too. There will be 12 charging points, two out of which will be completely solar-powered. This will be the world’s longest electric vehicle highway.” said Project Director of National Highway for Electric Vehicles, Abhijeet Sinha to India Today.
Currently, the world’s largest EV highway is situated in Berlin, Germany. This highway is 109 kilometres long.
“Yamuna Expressway and Delhi Jaipur Highway (NH8) will be completely converted to facilitate electric vehicle. Any personal or taxi electric vehicle, will be monitored round the clock on the E-way and in case of any breakdown, assistance will be provided withing 45 minutes without making any distress call,” said Sinha.
Sinha further added that the highway charging stations will be profitable and the break-even point on the investment shall be achieved within 36 months. This will be the most profitable electric mobility project, he conveyed.
Trials were conducted on the Yamuna and Delhi-Jaipur highway in December 2020, while two basic charging stations are operational in Gurugram.
The two prototype charging stations that have been constructed in Gurugram are India’s largest. Two such stations are to be constructed in Noida also but have been delayed due to elections. These would have 100 chargers with a capacity of charging 1000 vehicles in 24 hours.
