KATHMANDU: Fifty-one rapid charging stations installed by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) came into operation on Wednesday.
NEA has installed advanced charging stations for charging electric vehicles (EVs) at 51 different locations across the country.
Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Shakti Bahadur Basnet and Ministry Secretary Dinesh Kumar Ghimire jointly inaugurated a rapid charging station set up at Nepal Police Club in Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu on Wednesday.
Such charging stations have been constructed alongside the main highways of the seven provinces, buspark and big cities. The charging stations have been constructed under the Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Development Project with investment from NEA, the concessional loan of the Asian Development Bank and the technical assistance of the Norwegian government.
The charging stations were constructed with an investment of around Rs 400 million. Big buses, microbus, trucks, pickups and cars can be charged in 26 of the charging stations while big and small cars can be charged at 25 stations.
On the occasion, Minister Basnet described the operation of the 51 charging stations as an important step towards sustainable development of the country through reduction in carbon emissions and the adverse impact of climate change by means of consumption of clean energy.
Stating that the government is working towards policy and legal provisions for the promotion of electric vehicles, he said the investors are being enticed to manufacture EVs in the country itself.
Energy Secretary Ghimire said the transport sector is a key area to increase domestic consumption of electricity and the use of EVs will help boost per capita energy consumption.
NEA Executive Director Kul Man Ghising said the charging stations have been set up to promote EVs. He mentioned that EVs are 15 to 20 times cheaper than petrol-operated vehicles and opined that the use of EVs will also make a positive contribution to the foreign currency reserve of the country. He shared that NEA has a plan to install 500 more charging stations across the country.
Chief of ADB South Asia Energy Division, Sujata Gupta said transport is an important sector for reducing carbon emissions and stressed the construction of infrastructures that promote the use of electric vehicles.
It will cost 70 paisas per kilometre to charge a car, 80 paisas to charge SUVs, 90 paisas to charge a microbus and Rs 1.20 to charge a bus. Depending on the battery capacity of the vehicles available in Nepal, it takes at least half an hour to one hour to fully charge a vehicle.
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.
Three vehicles including a big bus can be charged simultaneously at these stations. A contract was signed with Wangwang Digital Energy Corporation Limited, Jiangsu, China for Rs 377.95 million (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 five years of operation. The software of the charging station will be kept in the authority’s data centre so that more than 300 chargers can be served.
All 51 stations will be controlled from Kathmandu. After charging a vehicle, a customer can pay the bill through QR code and mobile app.
NEA said 51 rapid charging stations, including two in Dharke of Dhading, one each at Chitwan, Muglin and Pokhara bus parks and four in Kathmandu have been operated from today. It is constructing an additional 11 such charging stations in the near future.
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