Does India have adequate EV charging infrastructure? Key challenges

Back in 2021, Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), stated that the Indian government aims to have electric vehicles comprise 30 per cent of new private vehicle registrations across the country by 2030. He also said that by the end of this decade, the government intends to have EV penetration of 70 per cent for commercial vehicles and 80 per cent for two and three-wheelers.

No wonder, this is a highly ambitious goal. However, to achieve such a dramatic goal of electric vehicle adoption, India will need a robust EV charging infrastructure, which will support a ratio of at least one public EV charging station per 20 vehicles. With the rapidly increasing fleet of electric vehicles across the country, the EV charging infrastructure too demands fast growth. However, the pace of growth in this segment is not adequate enough and is not in sync with the growing fleet of EVs.

Industry data by SIAM revealed that EVs accounted for 6.3 per cent of total vehicle sales in India in 2023. With the total volume reaching about 41.08 lakh units, the EV penetration percentage may not sound much, but it registered about a 50 per cent jump in market share from a year earlier. Clearly, with the new launches in the segment, the electric vehicle market in India is bulging at a rapid pace and commands the requirement of a robust charging infrastructure as well.

Here are the key roadblocks that are posing challenges ahead for the growth of EV charging infrastructure across India.

Inadequate power grid

India’s growing power demand surged by about 12 per cent in the first half of 2023 alone putting the power grid under significant stress. With the increasing pressure on the power grid due to the rapidly growing demand owing to various factors including global warming, the power grid across the country is witnessing gradually added pressure. Adding electric vehicles to the grid is further increasing the pressure, which may result in frequent power cuts, especially in rural areas. In a nutshell, power generation in India is not growing as fast as the number of vehicles and demand for energy.

Lack of public EV charging stations

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) expects 46,397 public charging stations to be built across nine cities in India by 2030. However, India currently has about 6,000 EV charging stations across the country and that too in a very scattered manner. While some of the states in south and north India have good penetration of public EV charging stations, in the eastern region, the EV charging penetration is too low. While the government has been pushing hard to build a robust EV charging infrastructure network, retail stores, small business owners and RWAs are still hesitant to provide public charging stations at their premises, as they are concerned about the significant amount of capital expenditure.

Geographical vastness and diversity

India is a vast and geographically diverse country. It has various terrains which require different types of EV chargers. For example, in low-lying areas where waterlogging is a problem during monsoons, EV charging infrastructure should be resistant to waterlogging. Also, rural areas may require different types of charging infrastructure than urban areas. These diversities along with the geographical diversions make setting up a robust EV charging infra challenging.