An electric vehicle charging station is being set up at the Kolkata airport and the facility will be available for the airport staff and people in the next couple of weeks.
The charging station, with four 30KW direct current fast electric chargers, is coming up opposite the old domestic terminal. It can charge at least 30 vehicles in 24 hours.
Tata Power, a major player in EV charging solution providers, has bagged the contract to come up with the station. The airport authorities said that more charging stations would come up over the next few months.
“When the world is switching to electric vehicles, how could we stay behind? The charging station is almost ready and should be functional in a couple of weeks. As we are conscious about the environment, we operate in a sustainable manner. The setting up of EV charging stations is another initiative taken by us for a green environment,” said a senior airport official.
The chargers can be operated through a mobile app or a RFID card. The AAI has requested the airlines and ground handling firms to switch to electric vehicles.
To make the airport more carbon compliant and make other stakeholders reduce their carbon footprint, the Kolkata airport has phased out a number of diesel-powered vehicles in its operational areas and replaced them with electric ones.
Among other green initiatives taken at the Kolkata airport are switching over to LED fixtures for apron flood lighting, environment-friendly refrigerant gas at central AC plants and AC units, installing automated baggage handling system , battery operated vehicles in the airside as well as battery operated buses and cars in the cityside and solar powered belt loaders that transfer bags from ground to aircraft belly. according to officials .
The sustainable changes have been recognized by the Airports Council International that has recently accredited Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport with level 2 plus reduction certification in the Asia Pacific and Middle East region. The centre and the state government are now focusing on shifting to electric vehicles.
While the centre is giving INR 800 crore to oil companies for setting up over 7,000 charging stations, Bengal has also framed an EV policy in 2021 and has been working towards setting up EV charging stations at multiple places across the state.
Similar EV charging stations have been set up at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Lucknow and Ranchi airports where the facilities are run by private entities.
