Jaipur: Battery powered electric vehicles (EV) are being promoted in India to reduce environmental pollution and conventional fuel petrol (petrol-diesel) powered vehicles. Keeping this in mind, vehicle manufacturers in the country’s automobile sector are also manufacturing conventional fuel powered two-wheelers, cars, bikes, scooties, buses, etc., but their focus is also on manufacturing electronic vehicles. Most notably, automobile companies are developing electric cars to reduce pollution, but consumers have had major problems charging the batteries of those cars after they buy them. Because there is a huge shortage of charging stations in the country. Meanwhile, the news is that India’s first solar-powered battery swapping station has been launched in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan.
India’s pink cities will become green cities
Finance network technology platform ChargeUp on Wednesday announced that it has launched India’s first solar-powered battery swapping station for electric vehicles in Jaipur, a report by HT Auto said. This station is located at Beniwal Kanta, Chungi Circle, Ramgarh Mor, Jaipur. The company has launched this battery swapping station as a pilot project. He said the pilot project aims to symbolically transform the Pink City into a Green City. Its aim is to enable battery charging without relying on conventional power sources.
140 kW will charge the battery
The report states that the battery swapping station is equipped with advanced solar technology, which enables it to harness the energy provided by the sun and synchronize with the charging grid to direct the solar-generated power to the charging cabinet. Jaipur’s battery swapping station is capable of charging 140 kWh batteries, which covers 20 percent of the station’s total energy demand.
Power supply will be during power cut
Along with this, the report also states that the solar powered system will also address grid stability issues in some regions, as it will meet uninterrupted power demand during power cuts as well as provide stable and reliable power. The initiative aims to promote the sustainability of EVs and accelerate electric mobility. Additionally, solar power plants will reduce the additional CO2 emissions produced by conventional battery charging methods.
30 more stations will be opened in Jaipur
Reports say that ‘ChargeUp’ plans to expand this initiative to 30 more stations in Jaipur, which will cover 80 percent of the city’s area. In later phases, there are plans to roll out this model in other cities, especially in Tier-II locations By investing in a decentralized solar microgrid, the company aims to power 30 percent to 40 percent of its stations with solar power.
Many other companies are also watching
However, many companies in this sector are betting big on the battery swapping model to move towards electric mobility. It is seen as a more sustainable alternative to EV charging stations. This model appears to be more efficient than the solar powered battery swapping model in reducing CO2 emissions.
India is likely to be the world’s largest producer of EVs
Let us say that Union Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari claimed on 25 March 2023 at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) program that India could very soon become the world’s number one country in the production of electric vehicles. He said that India could soon become the world’s largest producer of electric vehicles besides being self-sufficient. He said that using the recently discovered lithium reserves in Jammu and Kashmir, India could quickly overtake the production of electric vehicles. He also stressed the need for electric vehicles in public transport. The Union Minister said that electric vehicles are the future of transportation.
India is the third largest producer of lithium
Lithium is widely used in making batteries used in electric vehicles. Also, lithium batteries are also used in other devices such as mobiles, smartwatches, laptops, digital cameras, etc. Talking about the automobile sector, India is the third largest vehicle producer in the world after China and America. Lithium comes under the critical resource category. At present we are totally dependent on its import. But the situation may change for India with the availability of reserves.
what is lithium
Lithium is an element with atomic number 3, used in aircraft and batteries. It is also used in medicine to treat mental disorders such as bipolar disorder. It is a major component of electric vehicle batteries. Lithium deposits could play an important role in India’s quest to transition to electric vehicles in the future. Lithium is mainly used to make batteries in electric vehicles. But till now, the batteries installed in electric cars made in India use lithium imported from other countries, due to which the prices of these cars are very high. Electric vehicle prices are likely to come down after domestic lithium mining and production.
