India has successfully established a number of operational public electric vehicle chargers, the majority of which are located in cities like Pune, Surat, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai.
While the central government has taken several initiatives to promote EV charging infrastructure, it is Mumbai, where the country’s first biogas-powered EV charging station was established.
At Keshavrao Khadye road near Haji Ali in Mumbai, Maharashtra environment minister Aaditya Thackeray launched the country’s first organic waste-powered EV charging station.
What makes it unique is the fact that the station will generate 220 units of power from food waste collected in the surrounding region, primarily from large generators such as hotels and offices.
This facility will now charge EVs in addition to powering streetlights.
Thackeray shared a few images of the inauguration event on Twitter and wrote on May 9: “Inaugurated India’s first EV charging station powered by bio-gas at Keshavrao Khadye Marg today.”
It is noteworthy that this project is a partnership between the municipal government and AeroCare Clean Energy.
Matoshree Minatai Thackeray Park, located in Mumbai’s Jogeshwari East, has a waste-to-energy facility that has been operational since September last year and is one of the first small-scale, as well as a localised waste-to-energy plants.
It has consumed 1.5 lakh kg of food to create electricity since then and the new EV charging infrastructure project is connected to the same project.
Ankit Zaveri, who is the CEO of AeroCare Clean Energy, said: “At present, there are 3-4 electric cars that come to the station. We are working towards public awareness campaign and also looking into expanding and opening more organic waste-powered EV charging stations in the city.”
During the event, the minister said: “We are also planning to start such charging stations preferably on highways. It will not only encourage people to use electric vehicles but will also properly manage organic and biological waste.”
Waste generation in Mumbai
It should be noted that every day, the city produces roughly 6,000 metric tonnes of waste. Wet garbage accounts for more than 70% of the total waste created in the city, according to officials.
As per the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), bulk producers need to process wet waste on their premises. However, despite the BMC’s repeated warnings, more than half of the 3,600 bulk generators continue to break the rule.
The city authorities took the initiative to start a waste-to-energy project to address the issue. Aside from that, the BMC is constructing a waste-to-energy facility at the Deonar dumping ground, which will process 600 metric tonnes of rubbish each day.
Additionally, the BMC is aiming to install an EV charging station powered by organic waste in each of the city’s 24 administrative wards.
EV charging infra
As the EV sector is growing fast in India, establishing enough EV charging stations has become more important.
On January 14, 2022, the power ministry changed some rules and standards, making the following changes:
• To provide an affordable tariff for public EV charging station operators and owners, as well as owners of such vehicles.
• Allow EV owners to charge their vehicles at their homes or offices using their existing electricity connections.
• A revenue-sharing model for land use has been proposed in order to make a public charging station financially viable from an operational standpoint.
• Timelines have been established for connecting to Public Charging Stations in order to accelerate the rollout of EV public charging.
• Technical specifications for public charging stations have been developed.
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