BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha capital will soon have electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at seven locations to encourage use of e-vehicles for sustainable mobility and reduce dependency on fossil fuels to bring down the carbon footprint.
The Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) has initiated the process to set up EV stations in the capital and a spokesperson said the EV charging stations will come up near KIIT, SUM Hospital, Esplanade Mall, DN Regalia Mall and Krishna Plaza near CRP Square.
The charging station near KIIT and Esplanade Mall will have both fast charging and slow charging facility, while the charging station near SUM Hospital will have slow charging facility.
Charging stations near DN Regalia at Patrapada and Krishna Plaza at CRP Square will also have a slow charger.
More EV charging stations will be set up in a phased manner for the development of a robust electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure across the state capital, said BSCL CEO Sanjay Kumar Singh after chairing a virtual meeting with market leaders of EV infrastructure in the country.
Singh held the virtual meeting with General Manager (EV & EV Charging Infrastructure) Energy Efficiency Services Limited N Mohan, Head of EV & Home Automation Business at Tata Power Sandeep Bangia, senior officials from Energy, Commerce and Transport fepartment, Tata Power Central Odisha Distribution Limited CEO M Shenbagam, Sinha, Engineer-in-Chief and Principal Chief Electrical Inspector Santosh Das and BSCL General Manager Kamaljit Das among others.
The meeting discussed the EV charging stations to be built across the city to be used by the public as well as public transport vehicles in the near future.
EV vehicle infrastructures developed in leading cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Jaipur were also reviewed.
Priority in selection of locations will be given mainly to malls, public parking lots, hotels, residential complexes, workplaces and highways, said an official from BSCL.
The BSCL will float a tender for setting up these EV charging stations by October first week. The stations will be set up in PPP mode, BSCL sources said and added that the state government is also planning to add a fleet of electric buses to its public transport network in the capital soon.