Autobayng News Team
As per figures available on Vahan portal of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Maharashtra has a total of 558,543 registered EVs.“>
The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) will set up eight additional EV charging points on the 94.5km Pune-Mumbai expressway.
“Presently, there are five spots on the expressway where there are EV charging stations. We plan to install eight more. A study on this has been initiated, and we should be able to identify these locations soon. With more EV charging stations, vehicles will be able to operate with ease,” a senior MSRDC official told TOI.
He said another study on the number of EVs operating on the highway was being conducted. “Presently, we do not have any records regarding this. However, with tolls for EVs now exempted, we need to know the average numbers. We expect that the new charging points should start coming up by the end of this year,” the official said.
With the expressway recording an average daily movement of 1.4 lakh vehicles, commuters said more EV charging stations were needed. The state govt had recently announced that e-vehicles (EVs) operating on Pune-Mumbai Expressway won’t have to pay toll tax.
In addition to the expressway, toll tax has also been exempted for EVs operating on Samruddhi Mahamarg and Atal Setu.Commuters said travelling long distances in the state with EVs was daunting. Though the state govt had floated EV policy in April this year, not much had been done to improve infrastructure facilities for these vehicles, they said.
Prakash Khadekar, a resident of Shivajinagar who owns an electric car, said that he never drove on the expressway with it. “I bought this car two years ago but have not gone on long trips with it until now. There is a serious infrastructure problem regarding EVs in Maharashtra. The main problem is lack of charging stations. There are charging stations that are non-operational due to technical reasons. While it is commendable that MSRDC is coming up with more charging stations, this should have been done much earlier, and the state govt needs to ensure that charging points on all highways are well maintained,” the working professional said.
As per figures available on Vahan portal of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Maharashtra has a total of 558,543 registered EVs.
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