A Peek At India's First EV Charging Station

... where an e2o Plus can be completely charged for Rs 225 in about 75 minutes!

Fast charging docks  

Say hello to one of India's first EV (electric vehicle) charging stations. It's situated in Nagpur and is one of the four stations that charge Ola's maiden electric fleet comprising of two hundred vehicles of different shapes and sizes. The station houses four super chargers (or fast chargers), and there's a battery swapping station in there as well. Besides the regular electricity supply, the charging station also accumulates solar energy produced through solar panels situated on the rooftop as well.

A Mahindra e2o Plus, one hundred of which are said to form a part of Ola's electric fleet in Nagpur, can be charged to the maximum using the super charger in about 1 hour and 15 minutes. It takes 37 units of electricity for a full charge and going by the consumption rate of Rs 6 per unit, an e2o Plus can be charged for about Rs 225 here. On a full charge, the electric Mahindra does about 110kms which gives it an efficiency of about 3km per unit. At almost Rs 2 per kilometre, the running costs are much lower than a diesel or a petrol car. Heck, it's better than some of the two wheelers as well!

The tip of the fast charger that charges the e2o Plus

Other than the e2o Plus, the Ola electric fleet presently includes e-rickshaws. Electric buses and e-autos are still undergoing trials and should soon become part of the fleet. While the e2o Plus, electric buses and e-autos use fast chargers to replenish their batteries, the e-rickshaws get the provision of replacing their empty batteries with fully charged ones from the station. An e-rickshaw can cover about 80kms before it needs a battery swap. Their batteries can be charged to the maximum in about 3 hours at the battery swap station.

Battery swap station that charges e-rickshaw batteries  

Ola has invested over Rs 50 crore in the charging infrastructure in Nagpur that includes about 50 charging stations spread across four outlets. While the stations are currently reserved for Ola fleet only, it can be considered as a pilot project before any stakeholder plans to invest in developing the infrastructure for plug-in hybrid or electric vehicles in India.