Electric vehicle charging in India
The infrastructure challenge of introducing charging stations
Electric vehicle (EV) ownership may be growing globally but in India, despite recent growth spurts, the overall number of 6,000 is very small due to high costs, distance anxiety and poor infrastructure. Car ownership is set to double in India to 7 million by 2025 so resolving the key challenges holding back electric vehicle ownership must be addressed. This blog looks at EV charging points as primary infrastructure currently holding back EV use. Provision of EV charging points has its challenges globally but what are the challenges in India and how may they be overcome?
Global EV infrastructure
As interest in electric vehicles grows, an understanding of the challenges of actually using the vehicles is also growing focussing particularly on charging the vehicle’s battery. Globally such challenges can be grouped into two main categories: types of charger and location of the charger. The lack of a standard of types of charge points, which has led to different types and different speeds of chargers, with some EVs only able to use a specific type of charger, is proving to be the most problematic issue. This leads to difficulties in finding the right type of charger for your EV and uncertainty over being able to charge the battery is said to be holding back sales. Coupled with this is lack of availability of sufficiently accessible charging points for public use. Different approaches to enabling charging are being explored, from the obvious, locating charger points in fuel stations or enclosing chargers in street lamps on public roads, to the more experimental, using magnetic induction located along roads so that EVs charge whilst driving.
The challenges for EV infrastructure in India
In India the challenges are specific to the country. To reduce dependency on oil India is incentivising electric vehicles for example with lower Goods and Service Tax (GST). Last year the government Committee on Standardisation of Protocol for Electric Vehicles determined two standards for charge points; Bharat EV Chargers AC001 and DC001, ‘slow’ and ‘fast’ chargers respectfully although this is for government tenders only. So in India, this dilutes the single most global challenge. To further promote EV growth the government has proposed the need for charging points to be located every 3km on main roads in one million population cities and every 50km on national highways. So India’s biggest challenge is locating charge points. The issue of locating charging points in India has become a ‘chicken and egg’ situation — people are not buying EVs due to concerns about the lack of charging points and private enterprises are not supplying more charging points due to the lack of demand. Currently, there are around 6,000 EVs in India and although the government has announced plans to order EV fleets, the orders are delayed or much reduced at the moment. However, large corporations have started to team with taxi companies and e-rickshaws such as Mahindra and Mahindra with Uber in Delhi NCR and with Ola in Nagpur or with car hire companies such as Mahindra and Mahindra with Zoomcar, with the aim of increasing the number of EVs as well as charging points. So growth should increase.
Government and business initiatives
Unlike others countries which aim to put charging stations in the public realm, predominantly the street, in India to date most charge points are on state or public sector land but off-street. Many pilot projects are underway to deliver more charging points assisted by a ruling this year which clarifies that private landowners do not require a licence to sell electricity to EV owners. Examples include: Energy Efficient Services Ltd (ESSL) are tendering for 4,000 charging points in Delhi NCR with the aim for a total of 19,000 across cities, BP and Reliance are looking at provision in their 1,400 fuel stations (the country has 60,000 gas filling stations of which over 90% are State owned), the Railway Ministry has partnered with BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL) to provide charging points in railway stations, the government have appointed power grid companies such as National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Power Grid Corporation (PGC) to set up a skeleton of 4,000 charging stations across the country, PGC have also partnered with L&T Metro in Hyderabad to provide charging points in metro stations in the city and the National Institute for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) have instructed 135 charging points at New Delhi Airport and Tata Power have teamed with Tata Motors to provide electric charging points in Mumbai; these are just some of the initiatives.
How to introduce more EV charging infrastructure
Using Building Codes as the vehicle Government should demand charging stations in a certain percentage of car parking spaces in all residential projects both group housing and plotted, in all commercial projects from retail to office and in all social infrastructure projects from hospitals, educational establishments, transport stations and so forth. If car parking is to be provided then charging facilities should be provided in the spaces. The numbers should be a product of the density and should not just be a token figure but a robust figure related to future targets. Countrywide and state level building codes can be and should be updated swiftly. Retrofitting charging points is more challenging in existing residential and commercial developments and only demand is likely to increase supply. Residents with a Resident Welfare Association (RWA) can instigate provision by applying to corporations for funding under their ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR) fund and implement charging points in car parking spaces. Coupling this with a ‘car club’ / car share scheme will increase the societies green credentials. In commercial and social infrastructure environments employees need to feel empowered to demand provision from their employers. Until the large corporations and taxi companies partnerships come to fruition taxis are dependent on charging points at fuel stations and some of the proposed transport stations. City authorities could provide street-side charging points in service road car parking spaces creating an eventual funding stream. Urban areas may be easier to ensure a good coverage of provision whereas provision along highways is more challenging and either the Government or State are encouraged to take greater responsibility or sporadic provision will be left to the marketplace.
Future global initiatives
Future global initiatives include greater rapidity in charging, private rental of charging points (AirBnB style), further development of magnetic induction, community charging where communities open up their homes, offices, resorts/hotels and businesses for EV owners (as promoted by PluginIndia), improvements to telephone apps to find available charge points such as RE:CHARGE India mobile app, street-side lay-by charging points (think of F1 pit stops), car clubs/carpools which are especially suited to Indian residential societies or village communities and Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology in which the vehicle becomes an electricity store for buildings which can draw on the power at peak times and recharge at off-peak times allowing stabilization of the grid. Although growth is relatively slow currently, once things get going it will become a fast-moving sector however, the question is the timing.
