Bhubaneswar: 7 EV charging stations in Odisha capital soon; Know the places

Bhubaneswar: As many as seven Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations will be created at various locations in Odisha capital, soon. A decision in this regard was taken by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) at a meeting, yesterday.

In the first phase, the charging stations will be installed in KIIT area (one fast charger and one slow charger), SUM Hospital (one slow charger), near Esplanade Mall, Rasulgarh (one fast charger and one slow charger), DN Regalia (one slow charger) and Krishna Plaza, CRP Square (one slow charger). Later, more such facilities will be created.

The virtual meeting was held under the chairmanship of Sanjay Kumar Singh, BMC Commissioner, CEO, Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) and Vice Chairman, Bhubaneswar Development Authority.

The meeting was attended by representatives of leading companies in EV infrastructure in India. The meeting discussed about the EV charging stations to be built across the city to be used by the public and public transport vehicles in near future. The priority on selection of locations would be given mainly to malls, public parking lots, hotels, residential complexes, workplaces and highways. It is learnt that the city is going to add a fleet of electric buses to its public transport network.

During the deliberation on the EV charging stations in the city, different EV vehicle infrastructures adopted by other leading cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Jaipur were discussed.

The Odisha Cabinet has already approved the electric vehicle policy for the state. The objective of the policy is to achieve adoption of 20% electric vehicles in all vehicle registrations by 2025, to promote manufacture of electric vehicles and its components including battery in the state, promote innovation and facilitate research & development in the areas relating to electric vehicles & battery.

Under the proposed policy guidelines, it has been decided to extend financial incentives such as incentives available for manufacturing industries, purchase incentives, scrapping incentives, interest subvention in loans, waiving of road tax & registration fees during the policy period. It has been decided to give incentives under the Start-up Policy of MSME Department.

As per the proposal, 15% subsidy for buying two-wheelers, three-wheelers and four-wheelers will be given with a maximum subsidy amount of Rs 5000, Rs 12000 and Rs 100000, respectively.

Other major features of the proposal:
* Interest free loans to State Government employees for purchase of Electric Vehicles.

* Government Departments/ Offices, Public Sector Undertakings will give preference to hire EVs for official use and the above purchase incentives will be applicable for the owners to purchase vehicles. The Govt. Departments/ PSUs may give further incentive on hiring charges to promote EVs.

* Municipal authorities will be encouraged to provide subsidized parking for all personal EVs. Individual cities will prepare city parking plan to encourage provisions for on-street parking places for EVs with subsidized fees and EV charging.