India’s electric vehicle revolution is in dire need of charging stations – EQ Mag Pro

Estimates suggest the country will need more than 400,000 charging stations for the 20 lakh-plus EVs that could be on its roads by 2026.

India’s electric revolution is in dire need of more power.

Estimates by Grant Thornton Bharat and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry suggest India will need more than 4,00,000 charging stations for the 20 lakh-plus electric vehicles that could be on its roads by 2026. As of December 16, there were only 1,028 public electric vehicle chargers installed throughout the country, energy minister RK Singh wrote in response to a Lok Sabha question.

But there are thousands more planned, installed by governments and private companies.

Government’s plans

The government is making space to scale up. In 2019, it ordered all gas stations to install a supply of at least one new-generation fuel, such as compressed natural gas, biofuels, liquefied natural gas and electric vehicle charging points.

In March, the government directed all commercial and institutional buildings – shopping malls, hospitals, hotels, offices, educational institutions and movie theatres – with a parking capacity of more than 100 vehicles to set aside 5% of their parking spaces for EV charging.

The national highways authority is adding a charging station for every 40 km-60 km of national highways. India’s largest government-run oil firm is setting up 10,000 EV chargers in the next three years. Specific states like Karnataka are dedicating budget and resources to set up chargers as well.

Private sector

Meanwhile, the private sector is stepping up to the challenge, too.

On December 28, Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO of Ola – which recently launched electric scooters –announced that the company is installing more than 4,000 hyperchargers at government-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited pumps, as well as in residential complexes across India throughout 2022. These charging points will be operational by the end of February, and will be free for use until the end of June for thousands of Ola e-scooter buyers, he said.

Tata Power has established a network of 1,000 chargers across the nation. Mumbai-based startup Magenta has begun installing streetlamp-integrated charging stations at railway stations, and is targeting a total of 4,500 chargers across petrol stations, hotels, and residences throughout the country. Zeon Charging and Ather Energy are looking to set up chargers in 500 locations by March.

Existing chargers

For now, the distribution of existing chargers is wildly unequal, with the majority in the big cities.

Source: scroll