Noida: Electric vehicles (EVs) are gradually gaining traction in the city with more drivers hopping in. EV sales grew by nearly 80% in the last fiscal year — while 1,546 EVs were registered in 2022, their numbers grew to 2,775 in 2023. This year, 1,679 EVs were registered till Aug, which is 2.1% of the nearly 80,000 vehicles bought across the city in the corresponding period.
Despite the steady rise in sales, the rough patch may be far from over.While the initial batch of people who wanted these vehicles already have one, high power tariffs and lack of charging infrastructure may prove other major hurdles to the widespread adoption of EVs.
Currently, there are 1,505 electric cars on Noida’s roads, making up approximately 0.15% of the total 1 million registered vehicles in the district. In addition, there are 5,410 electric bikes and 21,254 e-rickshaws. Overall, EVs account for 2.7% of Noida’s total vehicle registrations.
Data also shows that though the city’s first e-bike was registered in 2016, no EVs found a home in Noida in 2017 and barely 118 were registered the following year.
Registrations began to pick up in 2019, with 12 e-cars and 140 e-bikes. In subsequent years, registrations fluctuated due to Covid: 62 e-cars and 65 e-bikes in 2020, 13 e-cars and 505 e-bikes in 2021, and 26 e-cars and 1,520 e-bikes in 2022.
In 2023, when UP govt waived off the 8-10% registration fee for EVs, 863 e-cars and 1,912 e-bikes were registered in the city. In the first eight months of 2024, 530 e-cars and 1,149 e-bikes were registered.
Assistant RTO (administration) Siyaram Verma said the state govt’s aim is to make UP a global hub for electric mobility development and manufacturing. But charging stations continue to be few.
In 2022, the Noida Authority installed 69 charging stations at 54 locations. Today, most of these stations have fallen to disuse or have not been maintained for long.
Gaurav Kaul, an EV user and resident of ATS One Hamlet in Sector 104, said one of the most significant barriers to the use of electric vehicles is a lack of robust charging infrastructure. “Last month, I bought an EV and sought NOC from the RWA for the installation of an individual EV home charging point in my designated car parking. But they have refused to give NOC. In this condition, I am facing problems in getting the EV charged.”
Kaul said his society’s RWA has engaged Tata Power, which has set up a community charging station for EVs with four charging slots in Tower 4. “However, this arrangement brought its own set of issues. There are nearly 20 EV owners in the society and sometimes no charging slot is available. I also need to park my car at the EV station and then walk back home. Even when the car is fully charged, it remains plugged in as there is no attendant. In addition, the power distributer was charging Rs 15 per kWh , while the domestic rate of power is nearly Rs 5.9 per kWh,” he said.
An e-car typically takes five to six hours to be charged completely. Most vehicles owners are reluctant to leave their e-cars or e-bikes at public places, and prefer to charge them for the convenience of their home or office, another user said.
According to Col Deepak Malhotra (retd), facility manager at ATS One Hamlet, the problem with allowing EV owners to install personal charging points at their own parking units was fraught with risks.
“There are over 1,000 flats in the 12 towers of the society. If we allow one person to install an EV charging unit, other EV owners will follow. This will compromise fire safety. Also, there will be haphazard wiring in the parking, posing security risks. We have already installed a four-point charging station and are in the process of installing one more EV charging station with two charging slots near another tower,” he said.
The UP Electric Vehicle Manufacturing and Mobility Policy, 2012, which deals with the adoption and creation of charging infrastructure, lacks specific guidelines pertaining to charging in group housing societies.
A revised guideline issued by the central govt for the installation and operation of EV charging infrastructure in the country on Sept 17 says for installing residential charging points, EV owners can request a separate metered connection from the distribution licence with a dedicated EV charging tariff. It says domestic power rates will be applicable for home EV charging. For group housing societies, it says RWAs, in consultation with the distribution licensee, can establish EV charging stations on their premises.