e-Vehicle carnival to be held from Oct 1 to 3

kolkata: The three-day electric vehicle carnival to be organised by the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) has been rescheduled in view of the alert of heavy downpour from Sunday.

The carnival will be held from October 1 to 3.

Earlier, it was slotted for September 24 to 26, Debashis Sen, chairman of NKDA said on Friday.

The state government has a target of 10 lakh EVs combined across all segments by end of 2022.

New Town is the first area, where electric buses were introduced more than three years ago.

The West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) has launched 80 electric buses in Kolkata. NKDA area has eight charging stations and they need to be mapped on Google Map at the earliest, it was proposed. Also, adequate signage will be put up at all charging station locations.

Participation has been sought from Mahindra, Ola Cabs, Tata Motors, Hyundai Motors, MG, EESL, banks (for vehicle finance) etc.

Also, an Electric Vehicle Rally in winter – December 2021 has been proposed.

An electric vehicle charging station will be set up at Kasba Transport Bhawan soon.

According to sources, the state Transport department's initiative to install electric vehicle charging station was taken up to bring down the cost of operating buses following the spiraling diesel price hike by the Centre and to reduce air pollution.

The West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) has set a target of fully electrifying its fleet of buses by 2030, which would entail 5,000 electric-buses in operation. At present, the WBTC is running 80 electric-buses. About 1000 electric buses will be added to the existing fleet in another one year.