Kochi to get second EV charging station for vehicles on October 16

KOCHI: The city will soon get another public EV charging station on October 16. The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is setting up the station on its office premises at Palarivattom. The station will have two charging kiosks.“Work is progressing well and in all likelihood, the charging station will be inaugurated on October 16. We will also be installing a software for the billing,” said KSEB Assistant Engineer Sunil N V. The EV station will have a separate entrance, opposite to the Palarivattom Metro station.

The government has identified KSEB as the nodal agency to establish e-vehicle charging stations across the state. It has already set up a charging station at Nemom in Thiruvananthapuram.Officials said KSEB plans to set up 250 EV charging stations having a charging capacity of 80-kiloWatts. The stations will charge the vehicles fully in 45 minutes to one hour. “The kiosks will have plug points suitable for all electric vehicles in the market,” Sunil said.  

Apart from Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam, KSEB is setting up EV stations in Kollam, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kannur in the first phase of the project. Fifty-six EV stations are being proposed in the first phase and tenders have already been invited for the same. In the second phase, the government plans to sanction EV stations on government- and private-owned lands. The state’s first electric vehicle charging station was opened at Indian Oil Corporation’s retail outlet at Edappally in June 2019.