Bengaluru takes steps to become the electric-vehicle capital of India
What's the story
Karnataka Energy Minister DK Shivakumar recently announced that Bengaluru will have its first electric vehicle charging station opened on February 15 at the BESCOM office in KR Circle. Further, it will get 11 such stations soon.
It was announced months after the state Cabinet cleared the Karnataka Electric Vehicle & Energy Storage Policy 2017, to make Bengaluru the electric vehicle capital of India.
The charging stations
Each vehicle will take about half an hour to charge
The energy minister said, "There will be one such station now and later 11 more will be added in six months as locations for these stations are being identified. Each vehicle can be charged in about 25 to 30 minutes."
As per reports, BESCOM will be the first government power utility company in the country to launch the fast-charging stations for electric vehicles.
BESCOM
Charging stations will be installed in phased manner: BESCOM
BESCOM Managing Director P Rajendra Cholan said that since there are not many electric vehicles used at present, the charging stations will be installed in a phased manner.
He said, "There are only two manufacturers as of now and the vehicles give a mileage of around 140 km. Most people use EVs only to move around the city. So there is not much demand."
The tariff
However, no clarity on tariff has been provided by BESCOM
However, the power utility company has not given any clarity on how much these EV charging points will cost the users. Reports say the company will introduce two slabs in its petition to the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC).
Cholan said, "We have sent a proposal to the KERC to fix a tariff so that members of the public can also use these facilities."