CHENNAI: With Tamil Nadu preparing a blueprint for transitioning the state towards electric vehicles, charging point operators have asked the state to ensure charging stations along highways, connected through rural feeders from Tangedco, function round-the-clock with uninterrupted three-phase power supply.
As part of preparing the blueprint, the state is holding consultations with stakeholders like charging point operators, Tangedco and vehicle operators after the industries department rolled out an Electric Vehicle (EV) policy last year.
A first-ever stakeholder consultation to have an electric vehicle charging infrastructure was held on Tuesday, with focus on private charging infrastructure, source said. During the conference chaired by Industries secretary Arun Roy on Tuesday, charging point operators urged the state to ensure that bottlenecks on applying for power from Tangedco and getting quality power is streamlined.
“Usually, when charging point operators file an application, it takes a long time for Tangedco to clear it and provide power,” said Karthikeyan Palanisamy, co-founder and chief executive officer at Zeon Charging.
He highlighted the need to have 24x7 uninterrupted three-phase power supply through rural feeders. Most charging stations located on highways are connected through rural feeders, which lacked 24x7 three-phase power supply, he said, adding this would impact the charging of vehicles. “When charging stations are set up under LT7 (EV charging category), they have to give us 24x7 uninterrupted power supply,” he said.
The other issue which was highlighted by charging point operators is to have submeters in malls, which get power under HT tariff. The state government should emulate the Bengaluru model where submeter tariffs are provided in the malls so that charging point operators need not pay a higher tariff, they said. The charging point operators also sought availability of land for setting up charging stations.
Other than that, the charging point operators want the one-time payment to Tangedco for setting up a charging station to be subsidised. “This works out to around `40 lakh and we urge the discom to reduce it so that it becomes viable to have a charging station,” he said.
To a query on how many charging points are required, Palanivel said it depends on the adoption of EV vehicles in the state.
Tamil Nadu’s EV policy offers incentives and highlights that the state will amend Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rules, in line with the Model Building Bylaws 2016 for electric vehicle charging infrastructure. However, this has yet to come into effect.