NHEV Acquires Land for 3G EV Charging Stations in Tirunelveli

Chennai, Apr 11 (PTI) The National Highways for Electric Vehicles, a pilot programme adopted by the union government and supported by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to upgrade highways into Electric-highways, has acquired 4.7 acres of land in Tirunelveli for the development of 3G electric vehicle charging stations, a company official said.

The development is part of the 5,500 km national rollout of the NHEV 3G charging network across the country that has been initiated following recommendations from the Estimate Committee of the 17th Lok Sabha in Parliament last year.

The acquisition of the 4.7 acres of land in Tirunelveli is strategically located on the Kanyakumari-Madurai Highway corridor and it also marks the second charging station on this route and the first under the NHEV South Zone roll out.

"We have finalised multiple locations for NHEV 3G Charging Stations in South Zone states as per Chennai-Trichy 3rd Technical Trial for Electric and LNG Trucks, Buses and vehicles. After the overwhelming response to give land for these 3G charging stations, we have concluded our final examination of pledged land parcel applications received from people and private companies," NHEV Project Director Abhijeet Sinha said in a company statement on Friday.

The new site would be NHEV's fifth freight route following the Chennai-Trichy TechTrial Run III conducted in September 2024 with Ashok Leyland electric trucks and Blue Energy Motors' LNG trucks. The site would also become the second 3G EV charging station on the Kanyakumari-Madurai corridor, the company said.

On pledging the site to NHEV for lease, Maaya Autobahn MD R Harish Babu said, "This site is now being opened up to NHEV partners for construction-related site survey, soil testing and project estimation to finalise the station's final asset price tag."

With the ports and dedicated freight corridors located around the site, NHEV plans to develop this Tirunelveli site as a truck and logistics charging hub after Ashok Leyland's successful Technical trial to make five freight corridors in the State, the release added.