Electric car owners will soon be able to charge their vehicles at BEST’s Worli, Backbay bus depots

The BEST undertaking is planning to install a recharging facility for private electric cars at its Worli and Backbay bus depots in a bid to supplement its income.

Over the last decade, the city has witnessed a surge in the number of electric vehicles on the road, thereby increasing the need for strengthening infrastructure like recharging centres.

Both Worli and Backbay depots have a facility to charge electric vehicles inside their premises, which is used to fuel the six electric buses currently plying on city roads.

Since the recharging points remain unused for the rest of the day, the undertaking plans to extend the service to private vehicles for a certain cost, which will be fixed by the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The BEST also plans to procure 80 more electric buses, which are almost 50 percent cheaper than CNG and Diesel in terms of fuel costs. The buses can reportedly cover an entire day’s route of around 200 km on a single charge.

Meanwhile, committee chairman Anil Kokil has also demanded that the e-charging facility be introduced at the five octroi nakas that have been vacated since GST was introduced last year.

In February, the state government cleared the Maharashtra Electric Vehicle Policy, which offers subsidies for construction of charging stations and cheaper electricity to vendors.

Later in April, the Maharashtra government also issued an ordinance directing planning authorities to grant permissions for constructions of electric vehicle charging stations at bus depots, public parking lots, housing societies, gas and railway stations.

The central government set a target of converting all public transport into electric vehicles by the year 2030.