Bengaluru: Few takers for Bescom's electric charging station

Bengaluru: It appears there are not many takers for Bescom’s first electric vehicle charging station in the city with only five or six vehicles making use of it every day since it opened in February.  But undeterred, the agency hopes to set up more charging stations not just within the city, but outside too.

While it has planned 11 more charging stations within Bengaluru, it believes it needs to establish stations outside the city as well to help people take their electric cars on longer journeys.

 “Although  at present we are concentrating on developing infrastructure within city limits for electric cars , we want to take the initiative to establish them outside too,” said Mr Srinath, a senior Bescom official, speaking to the Deccan Chronicle.

The idea is to clearly encourage people to drive their electric vehicles over longer distances. But  a  fully charged vehicle can run for 100 kms at best when the  distance between say Bengaluru and Tumkuru is 80 kms. Bescom officers point out that unless there is a charging station en route an electric vehicle will not be able to make it much further.

Meanwhile, now that it is on the way to establishing more charging stations in the city in the next six months, Bescom is hoping the demand for them will grow after BMTC gets its first fleet of electric vehicles.

Bescom itself has hired five new Mahindra Verito electric vehicles for official use and  plans to increase their number to 50 in future..  

Mr J S Nanda, a software professional, who recently bought an electric car,  believes their number is bound to increase in the city  if there is better infrastructure for them.

“The operational cost for a conventional vehicle is Rs 4 a kilometer and only Re 1 per kilometer for an electric car. So more will opt for them if there are more charging stations,” he reasons. Presently, the city has 6,246 electric vehicles.