More Public and Private Investments in Fast Charging Needed to Accelerate EV Adoption-Industry

With little doubt on the Ev transition picking pace, the focus was on fast charging to ensure a smooth path for adopters at the EV fast Charging Summit organised by Indian Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) in Delhi.

With over 4 Million EVs sold in India, EV adoption is fast approaching the inflection point supported by an enabling ecosystem, supportive Government policy, and increased consumer awareness. However, the need of the hour is to improve the pace of this adoption with the support of public and private investments. To reduce charging time and help increase convenience for EV users in terms of mobility and waiting times

President of IESA, Debi Prasad Dash says, “We all are waiting for the PM e-drive scheme to be floated, which is double the charging infrastructure incentive than the FAME-II scheme. A few of the things the ministry is considering before outing the full scheme include, that they are trying to make it this time state-wise demand allocation, considering the density of the vehicles in different localities in states and cities. The ministry has also tried to consider if any state has its own EV policies and gives incentives to the charging space and others, as well as how they can allocate both state and central government schemes. Hope to see the framework for 2,000 crore coming up soon.” In addition, the government’s MAHA Program under ANRF also has the charging infra as one of the priority areas for enhancing the capabilities of indigenous R&D and innovation in India.

The PM e Drive scheme aims to address range anxiety by promoting the installation of public EV charging stations (EVPCS). Rs 2,000 crore is dedicated to installing 22,100 fast chargers for e-4Ws, 1,800 fast chargers for e-buses, and 48,400 fast chargers for e-2Ws and e-3Ws. However, the increasing number of EVs raises alarming concern for fast charging units, which are still at their nascent stage in India.

Managing Director of CES India, Vinayak Walimbe stated, “In terms of EVs, I was interested in looking into what kind of investments will lead to as a charging infrastructure. For something like close to 20 billion USD, these are estimates of the US, so we’ll see in India how that will boil down to. But it would require something close to 20 to 50 billion dollars of investments.”

To achieve the vision of 30 per cent EV adoption by 2030, Industry experts also anticipate that the public and private sector will narrow the price gap and make it more affordable. Reducing custom duties, GST and tax on imported EV components while voicing up for local R&D battery technology can further boost local manufacturing and generate employment.

Awadhesh Jha, Executive Director of GLIDA says, “PM E-drive allocation is very less to accelerate the public charging infrastructure with that money. Those 2000 crores can be invested in upgrading the electricity infrastructure by providing the funds to the distribution company. If the government supports the distribution company, to create the plug and play and give that to the charge point operator, then it will help the sector much better than instead of spending the money and creating the number.”

DISCOMS (distribution companies) play a pivotal role in fostering EV adoption and boosting the energy sector by supplying reliable electricity to the end user. However, high installation costs is still a concern for the industry. To bridge this gap, investments are necessary along with the support of government’s initiatives.

Shiraz Khanna, CFO of Exicom says, “The supply of electricity and uptime of power is not there as much. So the moment we get that infra in place, we upgrade our transformers, we upgrade our grids, we will see how the growth of EV will not only be restricted to the urban areas but the rural areas as well.”

In essence, the message from the summit was that the country’s vision of 30% EV adoption by 2030 and fostering economic growth through job creation in the burgeoning EV sector needs a holistic view on fast charging infrastructure now.