With no charging point, Bengaluru e-scooter owner hauls bike to 5th floor kitchen to recharge, find out more

"My apartment community in the so called EV capital of India (Bangalore) wouldn't let me install an EV charging point, after trying to educate them and fighting an uphill battle for 4 months," Vish Ganti, Vice President of Product Management & GM AutoGrid India, wrote on LinkedIn

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Bengaluru: In a striking example of desi jugaad, an electric scooter owner in Bengaluru took his e-scooter all way to the fifth floor of his apartment complex to recharge it in his kitchen, thanks to a lack of charging points at his building!

Stating that he never thought a day like this would come, Vish Ganti, Vice President of Product Management & GM AutoGrid India, in his LinkedIn post wrote, "My apartment community in the so called EV capital of India (Bangalore) wouldn't let me install an EV charging point, after trying to educate them and fighting an uphill battle for 4 months. So I decided to load up my scooter in the elevator and bring it up to my unit on 5th floor to charge it in the kitchen, as a sign of protest and to create awareness of this ground reality. So much for the progress and all the rhetoric about EV charging in India!"

He added, "Everyone needs to be educated about the importance of EV charging infrastructure. We recently rolled out the EV charging handbook for India... but the question still remains how do residential communities and common people understand the intricacies living with an EV."

He also urged readers not to follow suit. "Please don't try this yourself. There are real risks from shock and fire. This post is only to generate awareness amongst the EV community," he said.

His post resonated with many users with some admitting that this was the reason why people think twice about opting for electric vehicles. 

The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM), meanwhile, had announced to install 140 electric vehicle charging stations across Bengaluru in the next six months. Deputy general manager of Smart Grid and Electric Vehicles, BESCOM, CK Sreenath, was quoted by the Indian Express saying, "“We are open to the RWAs approaching us. RWAs should encourage apartment owners to shift to electric vehicles (EV). Till then the EV owners should charge their vehicles by using individual power connections to set up charging points."