5,500 km highways to be turned into e-ways via public-private partnership

The National Highways for Electric Vehicles will have 111 stations across 23 cities in project under annuity hybrid e-mobility model

The government is finalising a plan to upgrade 5,500 km of existing highways into the National Highways for Electric Vehicles (NHEV) through a public-private partnership across 23 cities in 12 states. The e-highways will collectively have 111 stations with charging and other facilities.

The longest route will be between Bengaluru and Goa (558 km), with 11 stations en route, and the shortest will be Ahmedabad to Vadodara (111 km), with two stations.

The move comes following the success of two pilots of e-way projects — between Delhi and Agra and Delhi and Jaipur by Ease of Doing Business (EODB), a tech piloting agency for the Government of India.

The average incremental cost to upgrade standard highways to e-ways will be an average of Rs 64 lakh per kilometre, or a total of Rs 3,672 crore. According to the plan given by EODB, each station (with areas of 1.5 acres to 2 acres) will have charging and swapping stations, last-mile logistics facilities, restaurants and restrooms.

Investment will also be made on undertaking geo-fencing, breakdown backups and the purchase of a fleet of electric cars and buses.

The project will be implemented under the annuity hybrid e-mobility model, which has the capability to cha­nge any 300-km highway or exp­re­s­sway into an e-highway in 90 days with charging stations, an EV fleet of cars and buses, all of which will help consumers pay much less to travel by road as compared to travelling in an internal combustion engine vehicle.

The stations will be offered first to public sector undertakings (PSUs) by nomination or allocation. If they are not taken, they will be offered to the private sector and will also be open for foreign direct investment (FDI). However, private sector companies have to pay the commercial rate for the land, which the PSUs do not have to.

The stations will be assured 30 per cent utilisation by the fleet owners on the basis of premediated trips and frequency. They can also generate revenue from advertising and rentals from restaurants and other services that they may provide at the station. Efforts are on to reduce the cost of an EV in the fleet by 30 per cent for those who are part of the programme. For this, a battery subscription model has been cleared by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and NITI Aayog.

Elaborating on the economics of the project, Abhijeet Sinha, national programme director of Ease of Doing Business and project director of NHEV, says, “We estimate that an EV fleet of cars or buses should be able to break even within 36-40 months. The charging station owners should break even in three years, as they will be assured a 30 per cent capacity utilisation by the fleet owners who want to use the e-highway.” He adds: “Consumers who book with the car or bus fleet that are part of the project will have to pay around half of what they were spending earlier as these will be all EVs.”

Even for the pilot, EODB has been able to rope in EV fleet companies such as Blu Smart, Volvo, which has electric buses, and electric scooter maker Ola Electric, and Infosys and NTT Data, among others, for the technology.

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• Longest route: Bengaluru to Goa (558 km) with 11 stations en route
• Shortest route: Ahmedabad to Vadodara (111 km) with 2 stations
• Average incremental cost to upgrade highways to e-ways: Rs 64 lakh/km
• Total upgrade cost: Rs 3,672 crore
• Each station (1.5-2 acres) to have charging and swapping stations, last-mile logistics facilities, restaurants and restrooms
• Stations will be first offered to PSUs by nomination or allocation; if not taken, they will be offered to the pvt sector and also be open for FDI
• Stations will be assured 30% utilisation by the fleet owners on the basis of premediated trips and frequency