India will need 4 lakh charging stations for 20 lakh EVs by 2026: Report

India will require around 4 lakh charging stations for around 20 lakh electric vehicles in the country by 2026, claims a Grant Thornton Bharat-FICCI report. The study claims that in order to achieve 100% EVs by 2030 several sectors will play a key role. These include more government support, lower technology cost and higher pollution levels.

As of March 2021, there were around 1,800 charging stations in India catering to approximately 16,200 electric cars including the fleet segment. However, this is way too lower than the required infrastructure, claims SMEV.

The study claims that the overall EV ecosystem is tightly coupled with the electric vehicles and charging station characteristics, battery technologies, and electricity markets. It also recommends the involvement of discoms in the Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) deployment and classification of the electric vehicle charging infrastructure as corporate social responsibility. The study also suggested design simplifications, partnership during the transition towards electric mobility to bring down EV costs in India.

The global EV manufacturers have spent millions to improve the availability and efficacy of the electric vehicles charging stations. As a result of that, the fastest ones today take no more than 15 minutes to recharge an electric vehicle. The research also says that the global sales of zero-emission BEVs in 2020 increased by 39% to 3.1 million units as compared to2019. On the other hand, the total passenger car market declined by 14%.

The pandemic too is claimed to be accelerating the pace of electric vehicle adoption. The new customers who are willing to buy vehicles prefer EVs considering a healthy and clean environment.