BENGALURU: In the months of April and May, electricity supply companies have recorded a 2 per cent rise in power consumption by electric vehicles. While they noted that this is not for new vehicles, they also said there has been a rise in bookings for EVs, with increasing awareness on green mobility, and the global oil crisis.
However, this has also increased the demand for installation of fast-charging EV stations along highways and prominent public points. To address this, the energy department is working to enter into partnerships and agreements with private firms to install solar enabled fast-charging EV stations.
This is apart from the partnership with State and National Highways and the Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL).
A senior Escom official listed four types of EV consumers – residential, industrial, commercial and LT(6-C) – who fall under different power tariff slabs. But the demand in all sectors has been on the rise in the past two months.
“We are looking to install a second used battery solar-enabled EV charging unit near the airport. This is will be on the same lines as the first one of 45-50 KW capacity. But the charging units will be improved.
This is because new vehicles have batteries of 30-90 KWH and need DC charging. Consumers also want charging units to be designed in such a way that vehicles are charged fully within 30 minutes. For this, we need large solar panel spaces and they need more area,” the official said.
In the meantime, to keep a tab on rising demand, the State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC), monitoring electricity input and output on the grid on real-time basis, has once again stressed on its year-long demand for dividing meters for EV consumers in all four categories, particularly residential and commercial.
An SLDC official explained that this is because the exact power consumed for EVs is not known at present. “It is only an estimation. Consumers presently draw electricity from their residential meters for charging and are billed. But if the meter reading is taken separately, then the exact amount of power used and rise in demand can be calculated for better policy formation and administration. Separate monitoring is the need of the hour to channelise EV growth,” the SLDC official said.
According to data from the energy department, there is one solar-enabled EV charging station in the state near Kempegowda International Airport. There are 209 EV charging stations and 471 EV charging points offered by Bescom. In all, there are 8000 EV charging stations in Karnataka, including those from Escoms and private firms, 50 per cent of which are in and around Bengaluru.
