New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) Around 1,000 new charging points for electric vehicles (EV) are expected to come up across the city with the top malls in Delhi committing to install such points in five percent of their parking space in the next six months, a DDC statement said on Friday.
The Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi (DDC), in partnership with World Resources Institute, India (WRI India), released a guidebook to simplify and enable adoption of EV charging at shopping malls in Delhi.
“Shopping malls are our partners in pushing the agenda for e-mobility and reduced pollution. In addition to incentives and the guidebook launched today, Delhi government will also provide hand-holding support through the state EV Cell to all the malls that commit to install chargers at parking slots in the next 6 months,” DDC vice chairman Jasmine Shah said.
Shopping mall representatives welcomed the Delhi government’s initiative of promoting EVs and expressed their support to installing EV chargers in their malls for at least five percent of their parking space in the next six months, the statement said.
Providing EV charging facility can benefit shopping malls through increased footfall, increased time spent by customers, improved visibility, boost to their ‘green’ image, improved customer loyalty and it can potentially be an additional revenue stream for the mall owners, it said.
The released document guides shopping mall owners in understanding the importance of EV charging, assessing the scope for EV charging, details the processes involved for effective decision-making and sets out the way forward for the planning and implementation of EV charging stations in the parking of malls, the statement said.
An average customer spends around 90 minutes in a Delhi shopping mall. So, having an extensive EV charging infrastructure in shopping malls would help customers in charging their vehicles without wasting any additional time, said Amit Bhatt, executive director of WRI.
Shopping mall operators are always looking for various new ways of improving footfall in their malls and installing EV chargers is a great addition to the services, said Abhishek Bansal, executive director, Pacific Malls “We have operationalised 9 EV charging stations and are installing another 6 charging stations,” he was quoted as saying in the statement.
Yogeshwar Sharma, executive director, Select Citywalk, extended his “complete support” to the initiative and said that the mall intends to target putting chargers for EVs beyond just five percent of the parking space.
The Delhi government announced the Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy in August 2020, with a vision to promote the adoption of electric vehicles in the city and to make the city EV Capital of India. PTI VIT AQS AQS
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