Electricity usage by EVs in Maha rises to 14.44 mn units in July: MSEDCL

The power usage for electric vehicles (EVs) rose more than three-fold from 4.56 million units in September last year to 14.44 million units in July 2023, the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited said on Monday.

State-run MSEDCL, also called Mahavitaran, is the nodal agency for providing charging stations for EVs, as well as other works like helping the private sector come up with such infrastructure, and assisting the government in policies regarding the sector, an official release said.

Quoting MSEDCL CMD Lokesh Chandra, the release said the power usage for EVs in Maharashtra was 4.56 million units in September 2022, which rose to 6.10 million units in March and further to 14.44 million units in July this year.

The sale of power for EVs took place from 3,214 public and private charging stations statewide, it said, adding that the sale of EVs in Maharashtra increased from 4,643 in 2018 to 1,89,698 in 2022 and 2,98,838 as on March 31 this year.

Two-wheelers comprise the vast majority of EVs at more than 2.5 lakh, the MSEDCL release said.

"Only four electric buses were sold in 2018, which increased to 336 in 2022 and further to 1,399 at the end of March 2023," the release from the state-run power utility informed.

It said state Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also handles the energy portfolio in the Eknath Shinde government, has sought the promotion of EVs to safeguard the environment.

"A conventional two-wheeler running on petrol has operation cost of Rs 2.12 per kilometre, while this is 54 paise per kilometre for an electric two-wheeler. A petrol-powered four-wheeler has running cost of Rs 7.57 per kilometre, which is just Rs 1.51 per kilometre in case of an electric four-wheeler," it informed.

The operation cost of a conventional three-wheeler is Rs 3.20 per kilometre, while this goes down to 59 paise per kilometre for an electric three-wheeler, the release added.