With a massive influx of electric cars anticipated, the Indian Government is calling for bids on charging stations
As we all know, electric cars are useless if you cannot charge them. As such, the Indian Government is calling for bids on charging stations as they are anticipating a huge influx of electric cars in the next few decades.
India is fast becoming one of the world's largest car markets, making it a major source of transportation-related emissions. But the Indian government hopes to clean up the air with an aggressive electrification program.
The Indian government is requesting bids for a network of electric car charging stations and they want them now. The request for bids went out Oct. 30 and they have even called for a company to supply 300 charging stations by November 20. The request was issued in anticipation of the delivery of a large fleet of electric cars.
The bidding process will be overseen by a corporation set up by India's Ministry of Power to manage energy efficiency infrastructure projects called Energy Efficiency Services Ltd.
EESL floated a tender for procurement of 4,000 charging stations earlier this year which drew interest from 14 companies, including ABB, Siemens, and Delta Power Solution India Ltd.
As of now, most of the companies who bid in the tendering process have not yet submitted their charging equipment for testing, as is required by EESL.
The new bid for 300 charging stations will support a fleet of 500 electric cars that EESL has on order. Supplied by Tata and Mahindra, the first cars are expected to be delivered by November 15. This would explain the tight deadline for the new charging stations.
The Indian Power Minister, Piyush Goyal proposed last year to make every vehicle on the country's roads electric by 2030. While some countries have proposed ending sales of new gasoline and diesel cars in the coming decades, Goyal wanted to completely replace internal combustion with electric power in just under 15 years.
Goyal proposed an incentive program to make electric cars affordable enough for every Indian driver, but such a massive undertaking would require more government involvement. To begin with, the government would need to oversee the installation of a huge number of charging stations, and overhaul its electricity infrastructure. India's grid is among the dirtiest in the world, which would lower the overall environmental benefit of a fleet of electric cars.
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