High costs, low use may derail the development of EV charging Infra

News: Electric vehicle (EV) industry may fall well short of its target of setting up a sufficient number of public charging stations in India this year. 

What is the current status of charging infrastructure in India? 

According to a report by Grant Thornton-Bharat and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), India would need 4 lakh public charging stations to cater to an estimated total of two million EVs plying on the roads by 2026. 

However, according to data disclosed in the Parliament, India currently has only 1,028 public EV charging stations — almost 30% of which are in Delhi alone. 

So there is huge demand-supply gap in charging infrastructure in India. 

What have been recent initiatives in this regard? 

Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum have set targets of 4,000 total EV charging stations by the end of 2022 

Many Companies such as Tata Power, Ola have also set their targets. 

Why has been this huge shortfall? 

The previous efforts have been very slow as in the past two years, less than 1,000 public chargers compatible with all EVs have been installed. 

Setting up EV charging stations doesn’t generate revenue. 

Around 94% of passenger vehicles are charged at home (in India), so there is very low demand for a public charging station right now. Hence, the cost of setting up is very high, and use is very low.  

Lack of organised parking spaces in India is also a big hindrance to setting up public chargers. 

What is the way forward? 

It is imperative to make public charging profitable. 

There is need for faster charging.  

Moreover, India cannot simply adopt an international model and will need its own set of regulations to suit the market. 

Source: This post is based on the article “High costs, low use may derail the development of EV charging Infra” published in Livemint on 11th Jan 2022.