In a move expected to give a fillip to environmentally clean road transport, the Department of Heavy Industries has sanctioned 2,636 charging stations under FAME India (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India) scheme phase II.

The sanctioned charging stations will come up in 62 cities across 24 states and union territories (UTs).

The highest number of EV charging stations - 317 - have been allotted in Maharashtra, followed by 266 in Andhra Pradesh, 256 in Tamil Nadu, 228 in Gujarat, and 205 in Rajasthan.

Other allotments include Karnataka with 172, Madhya Pradesh with 159, West Bengal with 141, Telangana with 138, and Kerala with 131 EV charging stations. 

Smaller allotments include 72 in Delhi, 70 in Chandigarh, 50 in Haryana, 40 in Meghalaya, 37 in Bihar, 29 in Sikkim, 25 each in Jammu, Kashmir and Chhattisgarh, 20 in Assam, 18 in Odisha and 10 each in Uttarakhand, Puducherry and Himachal Pradesh.

Union Heavy Industries Minister Prakash Javadekar said that in future, at least one charging station will be made available in most of the selected cities, in a grid of 4 Km X 4Km. 

Javadekar also said that more EV charging stations will encourage original equipment manufacturers to introduce a larger number of electric vehicle models in the market.

The Department of Heavy Industry had invited the Expressions of Interest (EoI) from million-plus cities, smart cities, state and UT capitals, and cities from special category states for submission of proposals for availing incentives under the FAME Scheme Phase II for deployment of EV charging infrastructure within cities.

In all, 106 proposals were received from public and private entities for the deployment of about 7,000 EV charging stations. Of these, the government has sanctioned 2,636 charging stations in 62 cities submitted by 19 public entities for 24 states. 

With this, about 14,000 charging stations will be installed across the selected cities.