There is only one EV charging station in Noida (Representational)

The Noida Authority on Thursday procured five electric vehicles (EVs) for official use, as work is underway to prepare infrastructure like charging stations for clean energy-based mobility in the city, officials said.

The authority has procured five Tata Tigors on rental basis from Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) with which it had signed a memorandum of understanding in July, the officials said.

"The five EVs have been procured on dry lease for a period of six years. Each vehicle has an estimated running charge of Rs 22,500 along with GST. The step is aimed at shifting to cleaner energy for transportation and raising awareness among citizens about the changing patterns," the Noida Authority said in a statement.

According to the MoU, EESL has partnered with the Noida Authority for setting up 100 charging stations in the city for electric vehicles and a meeting between the two parties is scheduled next week to discuss the matter.

At present there is only one EV charging station in the city - at Noida Authority office in Sector 6, according to officials.

"As many as 36 locations have been identified for the survey for installation of the charging stations. We have a meeting scheduled next week with EESL to discuss that and the plan is to get things working quickly," Noida Authority General Manager Rajeev Tyagi said.

"The aim is to begin work on 14 of these 36 locations next week itself because we have stepped into the most crucial time of the year as far as air pollution is concerned in north India," he told PTI.

He said the prominent locations where the charging stations would come up initially are sectors 64, 65, 27, 41, 50, 51, 30, 29, 124 and 126, besides the multi-level parking at commercial hub of sector 18, sector 127 near HCL, Advant sector 142 and sector 110 Market.

Other sectors and important market places and shopping malls would be subsequently equipped with the charging stations, Mr Tyagi added.