The Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA), the state agency for augmenting renewable energy, is setting up a 100 kW solar-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging station at the Tamil Nadu Secretariat in Chennai.

This would be a smart EV charging station where the vehicles can be charged without human intervention, TEDA officials told Mercom.

The decision to install the charging station was taken after the agency’s successful pilot run of a 25 kW EV charging station to charge a few government-owned EVs.

The charging station is being set up at the cost of ₹10 million (~$126,666). It is funded by Tamil Nadu Innovation Initiatives (TANII), a Tamil Nadu government initiative under the State Planning Commission.

This model station will improve EV adoption among the 7,000 government officials at the Tamil Nadu Secretariat. About 15 vehicles can be charged at a time in the space made available. Officials said a CCS 2 charging gun to charge locally-manufactured EVs and a ChadMo gun to charge foreign-made EVs would be available at the upcoming charging station.

“All you need is a QR code at the station to recharge the vehicles. This is a completely automated setup,” they said.

“While we prescribe the adoption of EVs to the government staff, they point out the lack of public charging stations. The EV charging station at the Tamil Nadu Secretariat will be the beginning of many things to come in the state,” the officials said.

Chennai Metrorail has set up eight EV charging stations in the city’s metro rail stations in partnership with Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL).

In May, Convergence Energy Services, a subsidiary of EESL, invited proposals to install EV charging stations in Chennai and seven other cities across India on a build, own, and operate basis.

As of February, India had 1,640 operational public EV chargers, with Chennai and eight other cities accounting for 940.

Tamil Nadu’s Electric Vehicle Policy (2019) proactively encourages the setting up of public charging stations for EVs and other infrastructure to enable ₹500 billion (~$7 billion) investment in EV manufacturing in the state.