NOIDA Authorities Make EV Charging Station Must For Every New Building

NOIDA authorities will not give its nod to any new building plan unless there is a detailed provision in the map for an electric vehicle (ev) charging station. A news report on July 7 quoted an official of the Noida Authority as saying that the decision was followed with an amendment to the Building Manual, 2010 a few months ago. Multiple operational Public Charging Stations (PCS) stood at 1742 in India in March as against 10,76,420 EVs according to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). Currently, about 940 stations are present in nine cities: Surat, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai. The initiative evoked positive response from the residents in the vicinity.

The Union Government has proactively worked towards ramping up public charging infrastructure. It has encouraged the participation of private and public agencies — BEE, EESL, PGCIL, NTPC, etc to facilitate the EV infrastructure. Sensing a good business opportunity, many private organisations including Tata, IOL, HPCL have jumped into the fray and installed EV charging stations across the country.

The policymakers are looking to develop a mobility option, “Shared, Connected, and Electric” and are eyeing a mammoth target of achieving 100 percent electrification by 2030. As per a report by CEEW Centre for Energy Finance (CEEW-CEF), the Indian EV market is poised to be worth US$206 billion opportunity in another eight years if the country continues progress towards meeting the goal for 2030. This, however, necessitates total investment of more than US$180 billion in charging infrastructure as well as vehicle production.

A study by India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) has forecasted that the Indian market for electric vehicles will witness growth at a CAGR of 36 percent till the next four years. The EV battery market, at the same time, is also set to grow at a CAGR of 30 percent in the said period. Reflecting at figures from 2019, however, reveals a different story since India had a modest 650 charging stations as against more than 0.3 million in China. Other challenges confronting India in the EV landscape is the lacuna in charging infrastructure– a major reason why customers abstain from purchasing EVs.

If India is to meet its EV goal, it will need an estimated annual battery capacity of 158 GWh by FY 2030. This will further attract investment opportunities. At a juncture such as this, supportive policy measures are the need of the hour.