Range Anxiety and Charging Infrastructure
In a recent survey carried out in the American state of California, nearly a fifth of EV owners reported that they regretted purchasing an EV and cited range anxiety and charging infrastructure as the key reasons. I somewhat disagree with this conclusion and feel that it is slightly skewed and biased as it does not take into account the kind of EV that the owner owns, the different types of charging connectors used by EV manufacturers (CCS 2, Chad EMO, Tesla to name a few) and technically, even Hydrogen fuel-cell driven vehicles are EVs!
The concerns expressed by the EV owners are genuine and legitimate and the fact that our country is a developing country with a per capita GDP of US$2190 (exchange rates) or US$7333(PPP adjusted, I’ll go with the PPP figure as it shows the actual purchasing power of the average Indian),[1] the problem of EV infrastructure seems to be even worse in our context because to most of us, if a “first world country” couldn’t solve its problem of EV infrastructure, then how can a “developing country” do so? As counterintuitive my claim might seem, most countries don’t need to solve their problem of EV charging infrastructure, because they already have it! Let me explain,
Most countries, India and the US included have the capacity to supply electricity to more than 95% of their population for an average duration of over 20 hours a day. (97.8%, 20.6 hours in case of India and 100%, 21.33 hours in case of the US) [2]. Yes, the US has a higher installed capacity of 1117GW whereas we have an installed capacity of 383GW [3] but this difference won’t affect my claim that we have most of the infrastructure necessary for EVs. The basic fuel that propels an EV forward is electricity and electricity is everywhere, wherever you are, you’re quite likely to find a wall socket that would be capable of charging your EV to a reasonable level. Most homes/commercial establishments have 15A sockets available that will be capable of topping up a Nexon EV at a steady pace of around 10.3% per hour so, if you were to plan your road trip in 100km sections with a 20–30-minute break in between, you would be able to charge your EV by around 5% if you were to halt at a local dhaba. Plus, if you were to halt at a Tata, Mahindra or MG dealership, you might get access to a DC fast charger as most of their dealerships have them installed. However, the number of DC fast chargers on highways is still too few and they are too far apart. These can fully charge your EV in about an hour.
So, for ultra-long road trips (more than 500km), you’ll have to plan your stopovers in such a way that you get access to a slow charging point (any 15A socket with proper earthing will do) where you may have to spend a couple of hours before continuing on your journey, in case there are no or very few fast chargers en-route to your destination . But still, Murphy’s law dictates that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. So, in case you’re stranded with little to no charge to spare, what do you do? Your best option is to call up road side assistance who will reach you wherever you are and give you a top up of 5kWh which will be good enough for you to travel around 30km. In the rarer case that help doesn’t arrive, there is still something that you can do. Understand that all EVs equipped with regenerative braking can be tow-charged, i.e., if you were to tow your EV, then the battery would get charged via the regenerative braking system and you might gain around 1% charge per km of towing. So, by the time you reach the nearest dhaba, you might gain around 20km of range just by having your EV towed. Do this only in an emergency as a regen system is not designed to supply power continuously for a long period of time and this should be your last option only. Note that your EV must be in D or S mode for the regen system to work and keep a strong tow-cable handy.
But this is all fine, what to do when my landlord/housing society isn’t allowing me to install a charger for my EV at home? This is slightly difficult, in case you live in a rented house or an apartment, there are a few things that you’ll have to do,
· Assure the owner/housing society that the cost of charging your EV will be on your electricity bill and will be borne by you and not the housing society.
· Convince them that petrol is too expensive and this is why you’re planning to purchase an EV (this might convince them also to buy an EV)
· Find out if your neighbours are also interested in purchasing an EV, go together with them and raise this issue during the society meeting(s)
· A radical solution, take one of your neighbours to an EV test drive, they’ll enjoy an EV like the Nexon and might be willing to support you in getting you permission to install a charging station.
· If they still don’t permit, you can request them to allow you to install a 15A outlet in your parking spot and that will be enough for your Nexon EV (both the dedicated wall-box charger and the 15A outlet charge at the same speed)
· In case you live in an apartment where parking spots are not assigned, request your society to allow to pick a particular spot to charge your EV and ensure that no one else uses your spot.
· If you park outside on the road, it is not safe for you to draw a wire from your meter as the charger may get vandalised and it might also be illegal, instead, you can request people at your workplace to allow you to have a charger/outlet installed and your EV would get charged while it is sitting idle in the office parking lot.
But then what should institutions/departments do to improve EV charging infrastructure and increase EV adoption? Our country would be able to save several billions of rupees lost in oil imports if we all were to switch to EVs. Here is a list of a few things that can be done,
· If you hold a position of authority in a housing society, allow your fellow members to have EV charging units installed, the cost will be borne by the EV owner and not the society, so it won’t be a financial burden on the housing society.
· Ministries of Power, Road Transport and Highways and Urban Development must come together and formulate policies and protocols for individuals to setup charging stations at home. Policies such as reduced property tax, reduced cost of electricity etc., for homes/establishments with EV charging stations might help accelerate the EV adoption.
· The government can also make it mandatory for all home owners, housing societies etc. to allow their tenants to have an EV charging station and make it illegal for them to deny permission.
· If you’re an entrepreneur, you can install either fast or slow charging stations in the city or between cities (more on this in my next article), initial revenues might not be much and this must be treated as a long-term investment.
· EV manufacturers must standardise their chargers, this will give the user a greater deal of flexibility and peace of mind knowing that they can use any charger that is available. This will also create economies of scale and reduce the per unit cost of manufacturing and installing EV chargers.
References
[3] https://tradingeconomics.com/india/access-to-electricity-percent-of-population-wb-data.html
ALL IMAGES HAVE BEEN SOURCED FROM GOOGLE.
Bibliography
1. https://www.ceew.in/publications/state-electricity-access-india
3. https://powermin.gov.in/en/content/power-sector-glance-all-india
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhWBqlCTjlM&t=342s
