NEW DELHI : State-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) is set to lease out operations of its electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the country.
The company, which has set up more than 400 charging points, has floated a tender for operations of charging points across 1,800 locations going forward. Many of the existing charging points are run by charging point operators.
The company plans to completely exit the operations of its charging infrastructure.
An official aware of the development said that under the plan, the company will set up the charging points and lease out operations across 1,800 locations.
“We have a tender open for 1,800 locations across the country. Earlier we were operating also. Now we will not get into operations. We will provide the platform and people can come in, because now the purpose has been solved. Our purpose was the adoption,” the official said.
He said the idea behind leasing is for EESL to work as an asset-light organisation, now that the business has grown for other participants to come in.
“A total of 30% of government vehicles have to be EV by 2030. That itself is a huge number. To support that you need infrastructure. Earlier the concern was how much a vehicle would travel after full charge of its battery; now the concern has turned to where one can charge and that is where the business models are coming up.”
Over the past few years, EESL has been developing electric vehicle charging infrastructure and has signed agreements with several stakeholders across municipalities for conducting locational assessment studies and setting up charging infrastructures in their jurisdiction.
They include New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
The official said the company will tie up with public sector units and other institutions in order to set up more EV charging stations.
He also said that with more and more EV charging infrastructure providers coming in, the company is looking at coming up with an app which would allow consumers to avail of services from any charging provider or charging station of their choice.
Queries sent to the company remained unanswered at press time.
Under the Centre’s National Mission on Electric Mobility launched in March 2018, EESL has also procured 10,000 electric cars.
Till date, 1,514 e-cars have either been deployed or are under deployment to government organizations. These cars are given on lease or sold to replace the existing petrol and diesel vehicles.
India currently has over 1 million EVs. Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari recently said that the number will rise to 30 million in the next two years.
