Electric vehicle owners in India discouraged by lack of charging stations in the country

A recent study by app-based platform Park+ found that over 51 percent of Indian EV owners want to switch back to internal combustion engine (ICE) cars that run on diesel and petrol. Of the 500 EV owners surveyed in and around Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, 88 percent said they were constantly worried about charging stations.

There are currently nearly 25,200 public charging stations in India, but plans are to set up 46,397 stations across nine cities by 2030. Currently, there is one charging station for every 135 electric vehicles, which is significantly lower than the global ratio of one charging station for every 6 to 20 electric vehicles.

In India, two- and three-wheelers make up 90 percent of the total EV fleet. A report by Climate Trends and JMK Research estimates that the country will need about 3.9 million public and semi-public charging stations to achieve the target of 80 million EVs on the roads by 2030.

The lack of charging stations and other infrastructure for electric vehicles is proving to be a major drag on both consumer confidence and adoption rates, posing a major obstacle to India achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.

Charging Challenges

Amit Bhatt, managing director of the Indian branch of the US think tank International Council on Clean Transportation, said that residents’ associations and developers often do not allow the construction of charging stations because it is not required by the government and the procedure is not entirely clear.

Khattar, who installed an 11-kilowatt charging station at his home in Noida, said most public charging stations have 60kW chargers, but a large portion of electric vehicles cannot be charged at more than 30kW.

Amegh Gopinath, a senior mobility expert who works closely with various Indian ministries on clean air and electric mobility, told This Week In Asia that charging point operators have revealed that the utilisation rate of public charging infrastructure in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru ranges between four and five per cent.

Utilization rate refers to how often EV users charge at a given station. Typically, each charging port is used for an average of one hour, with a base rate of 20 percent. Anything above that means the charging station owner may need to install more infrastructure to reduce the time and maintain a stable utilization rate.

Paritosh Oza, general manager of sales and marketing at electric vehicle charger maker Lubi EV Solutions, noted that charging station locations are being randomly selected and are therefore not being properly utilized. He said the government must allocate land to private entities to set up charging stations on highways where shopping malls and restaurants are already operating.

“Power boosters also need to be provided to ensure that charging stations can operate without disruption,” Oza said.

Sharif Qamar, deputy director of the transport and urban management department at the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), said India’s Ministry of Heavy Industries recently set up around 11 task forces covering the entire EV ecosystem to address issues like charging infrastructure, testing agencies and battery swapping, and also map out the future of the EV industry.

New guidelines for electric vehicle charging stations, prepared by the Indian Ministry of Power, state that by 2030, urban areas should have at least one charging station in a 1km x 1km grid, with charging stations to be placed every 20km on both sides of highways.

Moushumi Mohanty, head of electric mobility at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said the government has recommended interoperability of charging stations set up by different companies. This will make it possible to charge any electric vehicle at any charging station, leading to increased use of existing charging stations and greater convenience for electric vehicle users.

Sales and grants in progress

Sales of electric vehicles in India fell over 14 per cent to 106,081 units in June, compared with 123,704 units in May.

This is in contrast to the overall growth in EV sales over the past two years. In fiscal year 2022, India recorded total EV sales of 1,179,419 units, which increased to 1,670,736 units in fiscal year 2023, a growth of over 40 per cent.

Global electric car sales rose 35 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year.

Experts said the decline in EV sales in India in June was due to the end of the central government’s subsidy scheme in March. A new subsidy scheme to promote electric two- and three-wheelers, introduced in April, has been extended till September.

While Khattar wants the government to offer bigger subsidies for people willing to scrap their combustion cars and switch to electric vehicles, he complained that the subsidies are not being paid on time.

Khattar has been waiting for the last one year for his subsidy to be paid by the regional transport office in Noida. He feels state governments should pay the subsidy after the vehicle is registered.

However, he hopes that subsidy initiatives in India, coupled with stringent fuel economy norms, will help promote electric mobility.

In turn, the Park+ study showed that 51% of surveyed electric vehicle owners do not plan to buy another electric vehicle, and 33% of owners are dissatisfied with the resale value of their electric vehicles, which is currently low due to a lack of standard assessments and testing.

Qamar said low battery prices, advanced cell chemistry innovations and government purchasing incentives to combat air pollution will ensure a brighter future for electric vehicles, but manufacturers still need to provide better after-sales service and regularly monitor EV owner satisfaction.

Striving for zero emissions

India has pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070 – 20 years behind the target set by the US and the European Union and 10 years behind China’s target.

A recent ICCT research report suggests that India needs to electrify its entire motor vehicle fleet, including trucks, between 2045 and 2050 to achieve its net-zero emissions target by 2070. “Therefore, electrification of transport is not only necessary but also inevitable to achieve India’s climate goals,” Bhatt said.

Heavy goods vehicles account for over 40 per cent of India’s on-road nitrogen oxide emissions, over 60 per cent of on-road particulate matter (PM 2.5) emissions and over 20 per cent of black carbon emissions. The government must therefore encourage combustion engine heavy goods vehicles to switch to electric power to meet the 2070 target, Gopinath said.

“To accelerate the transition to electric trucks, the government needs to develop charging infrastructure along highways. Without this essential infrastructure for heavy goods vehicles, the transition to electric trucks will be hampered,” Gopinath said.

According to CSE forecasts, electric vehicle market penetration in India is expected to reach 85% by 2037.

Mohanty warned, however, that to meet the 2070 target, emissions from other sources such as energy production, manufacturing, as well as construction and demolition waste would need to be taken into account.