Charge your e-vehicles while sipping coffee at Lutyens' Delhi soon
New Delhi Municipal Corporation has planned to set up five public plazas near busy roads and parks around Lutyens' Delhi. These plazas will have the facility of charging points for e-vehicles along with various other amenities like ATM, toilet, free Wi-Fi, a coffee shop, etc. Facilities of mobile phone charging and free Wi-Fi to carry out work can also be availed at these stations.
While talking to TOI, NDMC Chairman Naresh Kumar said, "Since it takes at least one-and-a-half hours to charge electric vehicles using fast charges, we want to help citizens utilize the time to relieve their mental stress and physical fatigue." As per media reports, one of the five plazas will be set up on Rafi Marg, and will be completed in the next two months.
To note, Rafi Marg's spot already has a smart toilet and clinic. And as per the plan, it will have eight charging points. Further, the space near the toilet complex will be used to develop other facilities including food stalls and litter bins. Apart from Rafi Marg, another plaza on Kautilya Marg is also almost complete. However, it doesn't have an e-charging station.
An official said, "We created food kiosks, water dispenser, ATM, SmartBike docks, toilets and a resting area for people to sit and enjoy the fountain in the adjoining park." Meanwhile, NDMC is yet to take a decision on the remaining three plaza sites. In order to encourage the use of e-vehicles, the civic body aims to install 55 charging points by end of July.
Till now, 53 out 55 charging points have been installed, which will be commissioned "as soon as the power supply line and meters are provided". The public plazas will have charging points if they have space. Moreover, one can also book a slot in advance for using these charging points. To avoid long queues, users can also pay the bills online, an official stated.
NDMC is also planning to install charging points for e-vehicles manufactured by Toyota, Nissan and BMW, in Phase II. "These stations will have a combined charging system (CCS), each of 50KW. CCS chargers are even faster than DC chargers and take just 30mins to fully charge a vehicle," the official said. Interestingly, Delhi's first e-vehicle smart-charging station at South Extension-II was inaugurated last month.
Pointing out at the reason behind this move, another NDMC official said, "We decided to develop public plazas after seeing the success of 'happiness areas' created last year." Last year, NDMC developed green 'happiness' areas for people to release mental stress and physical fatigue and to enhance the city's natural beauty. "Open spaces are shrinking in Delhi, hence this initiative," the official added.
