First charging station comes in to operation in Sarlahi

The electric charging station has brought into operation at Hariban in Sarlahi along the East-West Highway. With the rise in the number of electric vehicles, the first-ever charting station has been brought into operation.

The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has installed two types of charging stations with the capacity of 140-KW after approval from the Ministry of Energy.

Sharing that GBT and CCM charging equipment were installed at the charging station, Digo Company engineer Sujit Poudel informed the first machine would be used for charging heavy and commercial vehicles and second equipment for charging light vehicles such as jeep and car.

Chief of Hariban Centre of NEA Lalbandi Distribution Centre Jageswor Ram informed that six vehicles could be charged from two pieces of equipment at once.

The equipment installed would start charging once scanning QR code in the equipment through NEA mobile app, he shared.
Technological arrangement has been made in a way that the amount would be directly deposited to the NEA account through users’ account, Chief Ram shared.

“In the peak hour from 5.00 pm to 11.00 pm, per unit charging costs Rs 10.50 and Rs 6.50 per unit from 11.00 pm to 5.00 am”, Information Officer at NEA Lalbandi Bishal Shrestha said. Likewise, Rs 8.50 per unit has been determined while charging vehicles during 5.00 am to 5.00 pm, Shrestha informed.

“After the setup of the charging station, it has been easier and cheaper to operate electric vehicles. Driver Mohan Thapa commented, “It used to require fuel amounting to Rs 10,000 in diesel vehicles while travelling from Sarlahi to Kathmandu. But now it costs Rs 1,000 to travel the distance in an electric vehicle”.