Mumbai-Pune Expressway to get 8 more electric vehicle charging stations
Maharashtra is home to over 5.58 lakh registered electric vehicles, but the 94.5-km Mumbai-Pune Expressway has just five EV charging points now.
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Maharashtra is home to over 5.58 lakh registered EVs, as per the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways' Vahan portal, and is among India's largest EV markets. (File Photo)The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) will install eight electric vehicle (EV) charging stations on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway by the end of this year, officials said. There are just five charging points along the 94.5-km corridor, which EV users say are insufficient considering the rapid increase in registrations.
Maharashtra is home to over 5.58 lakh registered EVs, as per the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways’ Vahan portal, and is among India’s largest EV markets. The expressway sees around 1.4 lakh vehicles per day, showing the disparity in charging infrastructure.
“A study is in progress to determine where the new stations would be located so that they are well distributed along the stretch. Another survey is being conducted to monitor EV traffic along the expressway and forecast demand in the future years,” a senior MSRDC official said.
In order to promote electric vehicle adoption, the state government has announced an exemption from tolls for EVs on intercity corridors such as the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, Samruddhi Mahamarg, and Atal Setu. This is in line with an initiative to encourage clean transport and create carbon-neutral highways. But passengers keep complaining that most existing charging points are not functional.
The officials said that the new plan needed to be finished on time to address issues faced by expressway users. Further plans have been proposed for public-private partnerships and harnessing renewable energy sources to make the system sustainable, they added.
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