The new charging station built in Bardibas to serve electric vehicles has come into operation.The station, built on the premises of the Area Police Office, came into operation on January 15 as part of its technical testing. And in the last four days, 35 electric vehicles have used it for charging, informed technician Amrit Syangtan.

The station was built under an agreement the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) signed with China’s contractor company Wanbang Digital Energy to establish 51 electric vehicle charging points across the country.

According to Shiva Adhikari, project manager for Deego, Wanbang’s representative company in Nepal, the station in Bardibas has two machines to allow for GB/T and Combined Charging System (CCS) charging for heavy and small electric vehicles respectively. He informed that six vehicles could plug in at the same time at the station.

Adhikari informed that the station would be handed over to NEA after the completion of the technical testing in a couple of weeks. Sagar Man Tamrakar, another technician from Deego who was also at Bardibas, said that service-seekers could use the ‘NEA Charge App’ mobile application to make payments and check the station’s availability for charging.

He added that the company could monitor the station from Kathmandu using the CCTV cameras and take immediate action to mitigate any problems.

This station has also brought costs down for drivers. Bikram Dewan of Sindhuli, who was charging his car here on Wednesday, said that he barely spent Rs. 15,000 on charging after driving 6,000 kilometres.

Another driver Pramod Karki said that he used to spent Rs. 3,500 on fuel when taking petrol or diesel-powered four-wheelers from Bardibas to Kathmandu. However, after going electric, he said he only needed to spend Rs. 500 for charging when making the trip.

The Bardibas station charges Rs. 10.44 per unit during the peak hours of 5 pm to 11 pm, Rs. 6.60 per unit from 11 pm to 5 am and Rs. 6.60 per unit at other times.The Chinese company has so far built 30 charging stations, including the one at Bardibas.