With the increasing demand and manufacturing of electric vehicles, it has been planned that Bengaluru will have electric charging points over 120 locations in the city including IT parks and shopping malls.
The brainchild of the Transport Department and the Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) is anticipated to accelerate up the use of electric vehicles. Currently, Bengaluru has around 74 lakh vehicles that depend on fossil fuels.
“Electric charging points will be set up in 124 places such as metro stations, airport, BDA complexes, software parks and shopping malls. We are yet to decide where exactly these charging points will come up on these campuses,” a Bescom official, who is in charge of the project said.
The same person stated that the project would take about six months to take off. Along with this, he also stated that the Karnataka Energy Regulatory Commission has suggested a tariff of Rs 4.85 per unit.
VP Ikkeri, Transport Commissioner claimed that the state government has kept aside Rs 4 crore for the implementation of the project in the 2017-18 budget.
He further said, “Setting up an electric charging point costs ₹4 lakh. We will create the facility keeping in mind the requirements of charging two-wheelers, four-wheelers and electric autorickshaws.”
Electric vehicle users have given rise to this move. Paresh Shah who is a businessman uses an electric car to commute between Bommasandra and JP Nagar regularly, believes that such support system would help Bengaluru become more eco-friendly.
“Each place will have two types of charging points. One for regular charging that takes around 4-5 hours and fast charging,” said Hemanth Kumar, Joint Commissioner for Transport & Secretary of the State Transport Authority. “We are yet to finalise the business model but charging at these points will not be free of cost. The cost of setting up infrastructure, however, will be borne by the government.”
Bengaluru registers over 1,500 vehicles daily, however, it does not have many electric vehicle users. According to the reports, the city has only 2,500 electric cars and 7,000 electric two-wheelers. An urbanist blamed the non-availability of electric vehicles in the market as one of the reasons.