 "Centre to come up with a master app to check EV charging stations near you")
To boost the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and ease range anxiety among customers, the Centre plans to develop a master app to check the real-time availability of charging slots nearby, The Economic Times (ET) reported on Monday.
On June 7, NITI Aayog met with various stakeholders and discussed the app with a possible plan to develop its beta version in the next few weeks. The project is being funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and will be fully owned and operated by the government of India.
The users can discover the nearest charging station, book a slot in advance and make payments. Currently, charging stations are operated by different companies, and all have different dedicated apps. The users are required to download each app to know about the availability of slots, as these apps are not interoperable.
The users will not be required to pay a membership fee on the master app to book a slot. Moreover, they will be allowed to pay money through UPI using the wallet on the app.
According to data from the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, as on May 5, 7,013 public charging stations are operating in the country. Under phase II of the FAME India scheme, Rs 1,000 crore has been allocated to develop charging infrastructure.
The Centre has sanctioned 2,877 EV charging stations in 68 cities across 25 states and Union territories. Also, 1,576 charging stations on nine expressways and 16 highways have been sanctioned under FAME phase II.
Oil marketing companies recently allocated Rs 800 crore to install 22,000 fast chargers at their fuel stations.
According to ET, the state-run Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL) had floated a common app for EV charging, but the plan could not go further owing to difficulty in sourcing data.