BENGALURU: An India-UK collaboration has brought a zero-emission electric vehicle (EV) charging station to the campus of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Located behind the JRD Tata Memorial Library, the station is powered by 16 solar photovoltaic (PV) modules of a total capacity of 6.4 kW. Atop the JRD Tata Memorial Library is the solar PV system that powers the station.
For the next six months at least, a team of researchers from IISc’s Sustainable Transportation Lab (IST Lab) will study the technical performance of the solar PV, EV charging mechanism, the consumer response to the zero-emission station and pricing, Ashish Verma, Convenor, IISc Sustainable Transportation Lab said.
This information will be helpful for a policy framework for the government or even to scale up the station on campus, he said.At present, modalities such as the price for every charge, and the number of visitors allowed to visit the facility is being finalised. The off-grid solar EV charging station was launched by British Deputy High Commissioner Jeremy Pilmore-Bedford and IISc Director Dr Govindan Rangarajan.
This is an initiative under the Innovating for Clean Air (IfCA) programme, by Energy System Catapult, UK, after the Church Street First (pedestrianisation etc) project five months ago. The IfCA programme is meant to support UK and Indian firms to tackle pollution at source in the city of Bengaluru, by introducing innovations that improve air quality monitoring, addressing challenges related to electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, power grid management and the integration of renewable energy.