India: Bengaluru opens solar-powered EV charging station

Bengaluru, the capital of the southern state of Karnataka in India, has opened a new EV charging station that runs on solar power. Highlighting its sustainable nature, the city has named it the 'Renewable Energy to Electric Vehicle (RE2EV)' hub.

The RE2EV hub allows up to 23 EVs to charge simultaneously, with 18 fast-charging points and five slow-charging points. Mainly targeting electric four-wheeler customers, the new charging facility offers nine DC chargers, consisting of five 50 kW units and four 30 kW units. Homegrown EV charging solutions provider Delta Electronics supplied the nine DC chargers for the new public charging facility.

A 45 kWp rooftop solar photovoltaic system powers the RE2EV hub. It charges a 100 kWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), which consists of second-life EV batteries. The refurbished batteries were no longer suitable for use in EVs, but they still had sufficient capacity to store and discharge energy efficiently in a BESS. The solar panels ensure that the EVs do not rely on the majorly coal-dependent local power grid and truly contribute to cutting carbon emissions.

Bengaluru has opened the RE2EV hub at the BESCOM EV Hub Charging Station, Galamma Circle, a high-footfall area near the Kempegowda International Airport. Users can access the chargers by simply scanning a QR code and paying conveniently through WhatsApp. The tariffs here are significantly lower than those at private charging stations.

German government agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), state-owned power distributor Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM), and Karnataka’s Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) collaborated for the RE2EV pilot project. The new solar-powered charging station is part of the Green Urban Mobility Innovation Living Lab.

Bengaluru expects the learnings from the RE2EV hub to inspire other truly net-zero charging stations in other urban and peri-urban locations across India. The progressive city, widely regarded as the ‘Silicon Valley of India,’ has 4,462 EV charging stations—more than 75% of the 5,880 facilities across Karnataka.

Source: Information per e-mail