These are the 51 locations where the Electricity Authority has EV charging stations. In line with the policy to increase electricity consumption and promote electric vehicles within the country, Nepal Electricity Authority is building charging stations for electric vehicles at 51 different locations in the country. According to which, on Tuesday, the first charging station installed in the premises of the authority located at Ratnapark has been put into operation.
This kind of initiative of the Authority will play an important role in reducing the trade deficit and building a self-sufficient economy in the situation where a huge amount of money is being spent on the import of petroleum products. Kulman Ghising, executive director of the authority, said that the use of electric vehicles during loadshedding was unthinkable in the past and now ending loadshedding and reaching charging stations to increase electricity consumption internally is a big revolution.
To encourage the use of electric vehicles, a concessional fee has been set for charging stations. Under the electric vehicle charging infrastructure development project, the authority is currently constructing charging stations for fast charging of electric vehicles at 51 locations including main highways, bus parks and big cities in seven provinces.
Among them, 26 big buses, micros, trucks, pickups and cars and 25 small and big cars can be charged. A memorandum of understanding has been signed for the construction of charging stations to be operated by the Nepal Police and Armed Police Forces and at suitable locations of the proposed petrol pumps and offices.
The authority estimates that charging will cost an average of 70 paisa for cars, 80 paisa for SUVs, 90 paisa for microbuses and 120 paisa per kilometer for buses. Depending on the battery capacity of the vehicles available in Nepal, they can be fully charged in at least half an hour to an hour.
Each charging station is equipped with a 142 kilowatt capacity charger, a 50 kVA transformer for power supply and an online billing system. Fast charging 60/60 KW DC and 22 KW AC chargers will be placed at the charging station.
With this, three vehicles including a big bus can be charged simultaneously. A contract was signed with Wangwang Digital Energy Corporation Limited, Jiangsu, China for 377,955,000 rupees (excluding tax) for the construction, supply, installation, testing, operation and maintenance of the charging station.
The charging station is going to be built with the help of Asian Development Bank. The maintenance of the charging station will be done by the contractor company for 5 years of operation. The software of the charging station will be kept in the authority’s data center so that more than 300 chargers can be served.
All 51 stations will be controlled from Kathmandu. After charging the vehicle, the customer can pay the bill through QR code and mobile app. These are the 51 locations where the Electricity Authority has EV charging stations
