Mumbai: Soon you can charge your e-vehicles at BEST depots, know details here

BEST e-bus in Mumbai Pic/File Photo

As the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) is taking steps toward making public transport environment-friendly, besides planning to fleet around 4,000 e-buses by March 2024, it will soon be opening its door to provide public Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations for private vehicles.

The BEST is working on installing around 330 e-charging stations at 55 locations in Mumbai and 10 will be ready by March 2023.

Explaining the present status of the e-charging infrastructure, Lokesh Chandra informs, "By the end of this month, we are expecting some of the e-charging stations to be ready. While in some locations we are working on resolving connectivity issues, in other locations we are working on electric and meter connections."

"In the future, the e-charging facilities which we are creating in our BEST depots for our vehicles, can also be used by the citizens to charge their private cars and/or bikes, including private school e-buses too. When they want to charge, they can book the slot and get their vehicles charged in our depots," Chandra reveals. However, the BEST is not offering free EV charging and you will have to pay for it.

Along with private operators, the BEST will be providing the e-charging service on a revenue-sharing model basis. "The rate will be nominal on a per-unit basis. The private operators will decide on the price and they are sharing the revenue with us," Chandra asserts.

Also read: Mumbai: First AC double-decker e-bus to hit city roads next week, 200 more in March

According to BEST, the 55 locations (bus depots and stations) selected for charging stations have sufficient space to charge and park multiple vehicles at the same time.

Explaining how the public can find the charging space and book their slot, Chandra says, "People can select the time slot, reserve the slot for themselves and pay online so that they get an assured vacant slot. Private vehicle owners can book the slots digitally."

A list of a few locations where the charging station's infrastructure work is ongoing and will soon be started:

- NSCI
- Colaba
- Backbay
- Mantralaya
- Museum
- Hiranandani bus station
- Tardeo bus station
- Bandra Reclamation
- Bandra (E) bus station
- Mahim bus station
- Bandra (W) bus station
- Goregaon bus depot
- Goregaon (W) bus station
- Seven Bungalows bus station
- Walkeshwar bus station