Kerala Seeking Agencies for Setting up EV Charging Stations

Kerala State Electricity Board is seeking competent agencies interested in setting up EV charging stations across the southern state.

Kerala State Electricity Board Limited (KSEB) is seeking competent agencies interested in setting up electric vehicle (EV) charging stations across the southern state.

KSEB, the designated nodal agency appointed by the state government for setting up electric vehicle charging stations, has invited an expression of interest for setting up 64 public charging stations, mostly on KSEB or government land. 

Kerala is the first state in the country to come up with an ambitious EV plan under which the state aims to roll out one million electric vehicles on the state roads by 2022. These will include 3,000 buses, two lakh two-wheelers, 50,000 three-wheelers, 1,000 goods carriers and 100 ferries.

“The board has recently opened an EV charging station on government secretariat compound. As a first step towards readying the state for the smooth rollout of electric vehicles, KSEB would be setting up charging centres at first in six corporation areas, namely Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kannur. In association with partners selected through a strict procedure, the charging stations in these corporation areas would be set up on KSEB land,” said the board chairman and managing director N S Pillai.

Meanwhile, the expression of interest released on August 14 scouts for agencies competent enough to set up 64 charging stations in Thiruvananthapura, Kozhikode and Ernakulam. Of this, 33 EV charging stations would be coming up on land under the government/local bodies and autonomous bodies. Twenty stations would come up on KSEB land and the rest 11 stations would be up on private land. 

To be eligible, the applicant should have an average annual turnover of Rs 5 crore for the last three financial years. And, should have designed, engineered, manufactured, type-tested or got type tested, supplied and commissioned or installed as an EPC contractor or established electrical vehicle charging stations of a cumulative capacity of 200 kW, out of which at least one electric vehicle charger should be of 3.3 kW or above in the last three years

The board would weigh the business models being proposed by each of the bidders and would choose to stick to one or multiple business models, based on the viability factors. Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission has recently fixed the power tariff for EV charging stations at Rs 5 per unit. 

The last date for submission of bids in response to the EOI is October 4, 2019. And the bids will be opened on the same date. A pre-bid meeting has been scheduled for September 6, 2019, to address the concerns raised by prospective bidders.

The agency expects to release the final list of all the shortlisted firms and business models bu December 4, 2019.

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