51 rapid charging stations in operation

Kathmandu, Sept 6: Fifty-one rapid charging stations installed by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) have been inaugurated today. The advanced charging stations are for charging the electric vehicles. Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Shakti Bahadur Basnet and Ministry Secretary Dinesh Kumar Ghimire jointly inaugurated a rapid charging station set up at Nepal Police Club, Bhrikutimandap today. Such charging stations have been constructed alongside the main highways of the seven provinces, buspark and big cities. These have been constructed under the Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Development Project with investment of NEA, the concessional loan of the Asian Development Bank and the technical assistance of the Norwegian government.

The charging stations were constructed with the investment of around Rs 400 million. Big buses, micro bus, truck, pickup and cars can be charged in 26 of the charging stations while big and small cars can be charged in 25. On the occasion, Minister Basnet described the operation of the 51 charging stations as an important step towards sustainable development of the country through reduction in carbon emissions and the adverse impact of climate change by means of consumption of clean energy. Stating that the government is working towards policy and legal provisions for the promotion of electric vehicles, he said the investors are being enticed to manufacture EVs in the country itself.

Energy Secretary Ghimire said transport sector is a key area to increase domestic consumption of electricity and the use of EVs will help boost per capita energy consumption. NEA executive director Kulman Ghising said the charging stations have been set up for promoting EVs. Stating that EVs are 15 to 20 times cheaper than petrol-operated vehicles, he said use of EVs will also make positive contribution to the foreign currency reserve of the country. He shared on the occasion that the NEA is going to install 500 more charging stations across the country. Chief of ADB South Asia Energy Division, Sujata Gupta said transport is an important sector for reducing carbon emissions and stressed on construction of infrastructures that promote the use of electric vehicles.

It will cost 70 paisas per kilometre for charging car, 80 paisas for charging SUVs, 90 paisas for charging micro bus and Rs 1.20 for charging bus. 100 paisas make a Rupee. Depending on the battery capacity of the vehicles available in Nepal, it takes at least half an hour to one hour for fully charging a vehicle. Each charging station is equipped with a 142 kilowatt capacity charger, a 50 kVA transformer for power supply and an online billing system. Fast charging 60/60 KW DC and 22 KW AC chargers will be placed at the charging station. With this, three vehicles including a big bus can be charged simultaneously.

A contract was signed with Wangwang Digital Energy Corporation Limited, Jiangsu, China for 377,955,000 rupees (excluding tax) for the construction, supply, installation, testing, operation and maintenance of the charging station. The charging station is going to be built with the help of Asian Development Bank. The maintenance of the charging station will be done by the contractor company for 5 years of operation. The software of the charging station will be kept in the authority’s data center so that more than 300 chargers can be served. All 51 stations will be controlled from Kathmandu. After charging the vehicle, the customer can pay the bill through QR code and mobile app. These are the 51 locations where the Electricity Authority has EV charging stations. NEA said 51 rapid charging stations, including two in Dharke of Dhading, one each at Chitwan, Muglin and Pokhara bus parks and four in Kathmandu have been operated from today. It is constructing additional 11 such charging stations in the near future.