Magenta, an EV charging solutions provider has opened India’s largest public EV charging station in Navi Mumbai. The facility offers 17 AC chargers ranging from 3.5 to 7.5kW and 4 DC charging stations ranging from 15kW to 50kw. The charging station was inaugurated by Subash Desai, minister of industries and mining, Maharashtra. Mr Subhash Desai said, “Under our draft EV Policy 2021, we aim to bring at least 1,46,000 new battery-operated electric vehicles (BEVs) on state roads by 2025, estimated to comprise about 10 per cent of all new vehicle registrations by that time. We support our very own local start-ups like Magenta to drive the adoption of EVs in the state and in the country and soon globally.”
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The charging station has a total of 21 chargers which consists of the 4 DC chargers and 17 AC chargers. The AC chargers have been manufactured in-house in India. The vehicles can be charged in as little as 45 mins depending on their battery capacity and usage.
There is also a facility for parking the vehicles overnight which require slow AC charging. The chargers can be accessed via Magenta’s ChargeGrid App which includes an option to pay through a wallet and also monitor charging. This public charging station is a step towards Maharashtra government’s plan to have 4 lakh charging stations which would cater to two million EV vehicles by the year 2026. There are currently 1,800 charging stations in India which caters to 16,200 electric cars.
The EV segment is growing day by day with the launch of new luxury EVs like the Jaguar I-Pace , Mercedes EQC and the upcoming Audi E-Tron. There are also cheaper alternatives such as Tata Nexon EV, MG ZS EV and the Hyundai Kona. The electric two-wheeler segment is also gaining popularity with models such as TVS iQube, Ather 450x and the Bajaj Chetak. The Maharashtra government has been proactive in pushing EVs and the government recently announced incentives. The new EV policy offers incentives to the early adopters of electric vehicles in addition to the recent Fame 2 scheme introduced by the central government.