Thiruvananthapuram: In it’s yet another concrete step towards promoting clean and green transport, Smart City Thiruvananthapuram Limited (SCTL) commissioned first public electric vehicle charging station of Kerala in the heritage city Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.
Thiruvananthapuram Mayor K. Sreekumar inaugurated the Smart EV Charger.
Recently, SCTL procured and handed over 30 electric autos to beneficiaries (28 ladies and 2 transgender) and the vehicles registration and beneficiary training is in process.
The arrangement is such that three vehicles can be charged at a time and there is one slot reserved to be kept free. The idea is that the beneficiaries can do top up charging during their daily service to ensure they have sufficient battery reserves to travel the entire day.
The charger will be kept free of charge for initial period to familiarize the users about the system.
On an average an auto consumes 1.5 units per hour to charge which roughly translates to Rs. 15 per hour. The full vehicle can be charged in 4 hours (Average).
“The use of SMART EV charger will be regulated using a smart Card (RFID) to avoid unauthorized use of the charger. The charger is based on RFID based payment platform and remote monitoring using CMS (central monitoring system). CMS enable to view the real time power consumption/number of chargers available/ no of users/ remote on off. The Smart RFID cards can be topped up using app-based solutions as well as in the CMS dashboard. Message pertaining to the amount billed/ balance available in the RFID card will be send as a SMS to the beneficiaries once they complete the charging. These charging stations will be opened to other electric rickshaws plying in the city as well once integration with a banking partner of SCTL is finalised and SOPs are finalized, said P Bala Kiran, CEO, SCTL.
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