The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has issued a tender for the development of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. The bid-submission deadline is April 16, 2018.

This is a domestic competitive bidding tender and the EV charging infrastructure will be developed on a turnkey basis. The scope of work includes the supply, packing, forwarding, transportation, unloading storage, installation, and commissioning of the EV charging infrastructure.

The scope of work also includes the earthing and associated civil works of the substation and equipment as well as the Direct Current (DC) chargers for DC buses at the identified locations of the city. The successful bidder will also be responsible for the maintenance of the EV charging infrastructure for a period of five years.

NTPC will finance the development of EV charging infrastructure through its own resources. All bidders are required to submit a bid security of ₹2.95 million (~$45,287).

An NTPC official tole Mercom, “We (NTPC) have entered a tripartite agreement with Jabalpur Smart City and Jabalpur City Transport Services to set up EV charging infrastructure for all EVs across the city.”

“This tender is for the development of two EV charging stations. Each station will be able to accommodate 60 buses at a time and will have extra space for other vehicles,” the official added.

When asked to elaborate on the EV charging infrastructure for other vehicles, the official said, “NTPC will take out the tenders for that in the near future. Keeping that in mind, we have kept some scope for extra vehicles in the two stations that will be developed now. The EV chargers will be of 50 kW and 120 kW.”

The newly announced tender is in line with NTPC’s plans to expand the EV charging sector across India. In October 2017, Mercom reported that NTPC was seeking a pan-India license to construct and set up EV charging stations across India.

NTPC is also in the process of developing 20 EV charging stations across Delhi NCR and, in August 2017, the corporation successfully set up two EV charging stations at its offices in Noida and Delhi.

Of late, the EV charging segment in India has been getting highly competitive with an increasing number of players entering the market.

Recently, Fortum signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NBCC, a Government of India Navratna enterprise, to develop EV charging infrastructure throughout the country.

Power conglomerate ABB India also submitted a bid recently to provide 4,500 charging stations in response to a government tender.

Image credit: NTPC