Tamil Nadu, 11th April 2025: National Highways for Electric Vehicles (NHEV) has acquired a 4.7-acre NHAI site in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, pledged for the development of its 3G electric vehicle (EV) charging station. Strategically located on the Kanyakumari–Madurai highway corridor, this marks the second charging station on this route and the first under the NHEV South Zone rollout.
Mr. Abhijeet Sinha, Project Director–NHEV, said, “We have finalised multiple locations for NHEV 3G Charging Stations in South Zone states as per Chennai-Trichy 3rd Technical Trial for Electric & LNG Trucks, Buses and vehicles. After the overwhelming response to give land for these petrol pump-sized 3G charging stations, we have concluded our final examination of pledged land parcel applications received from people and private companies. They were also compared with sites available through public entity NHLML bidding/auctions, and NHEV will take sites from both Private (People & Companies) & Public (NHLML & PSUs) to build these 3G energy stations.
NHEV partners Tata Steel Nest-In and HYDRA Charging visited the site and expressed their commitment to accelerate construction and electrification-related surveys and estimations. More than 36 partners from the NHEV team are expected to visit the site in the coming weeks. Mr. Sinha added, “It took time to extend such transformational milestone extending Ease of Doing Business over ‘Licence Raj’ in India, where for financing and allocation of these 3G charging stations, hybrid PPP model ‘AHEM’ (Annuity Hybrid E-Mobility) is being used. It allows participation from PSUs under the Power and Petroleum Ministries, private entities, and the general public to now own these large petrol pump-sized 3G charging stations, which wasn’t possible in the case of petrol pumps ever before in India due to licensing barriers.”
Mr. R. Harish Babu, MD-Maaya Autobahn, after pledging the site to NHEV for lease, 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. A drone survey and mapping of the area have already been completed. Today, the NHEV Director visited the ongoing public toilet construction, which will be started soon.”
This development is part of the 5,500 km national rollout of the NHEV 3G charging network, initiated following recommendations received from the Estimate Committee of the 17th Lok Sabha in the Parliament last year. Under the 2025–26 Union Budget, the Finance Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman has directed a focused infrastructure pipeline incorporating both Bharatmala and Sagarmala routes, aimed at completing projects like the NHEV 3G charging network by 2027, three years ahead of its original 2030 target. Following the site construction and electrification surveys, price tagging of these stations will be finalized and assigned to public, private, or people-owned entities for allocation of operations and revenue generation activities.
This will be on 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. It will become the second 3G EV charging station on the Kanyakumari–Madurai corridor. The location for the first station on the route will be shortly announced with the NHEV South Zone Rollout this month for Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Goa & Pondicherry. Looking at the ports and dedicated freight corridors around, NHEV plans to develop this Tirunelveli site also as a truck and logistics charging hub after Ashok Leyland’s successful Technical Trial to make five freight corridors in the state.
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