The Government of India is pushing the faster adoption of EVs in India to reduce pollution and help the environment. The only way to increase the number of EVs is to rapidly increase available charging stations in the country. The Government has recently amended the rules to help them get to their target of one public charging station in every 3 square km grid in megacities and every 25km on connecting highways in the next 3 years. State capitals and their highways are to be covered in the next 3-5 years.
Any individual or organization can set up a public charging station without any license. This will pave the way for people to charge their EVs at home or office with their existing tariffs.
For public charging stations (PCS) an exhaustive list has been set for compliances including safety, civil and electricity related. These guidelines are technology agnostic so that charging station types can be set up as per requirement. The government has also made a revenue sharing model to help with land use. A fee of 1Rs/ Kw is to be paid to the land owning agency from the charging stations.
Electricity utilities are to provide a connection within 7 days in metro cities and 15 days in other municipal areas and 30 days in rural areas. Tariff rules have also been simplified and cannot exceed average cost of supply. With electricity being provided at a concessional rate and central and state governments giving subsidies for the charging infrastructure, EV charging infrastructure will boom in the country.
With more and more public charging stations being available, it will help buyers of EVs reduce range anxiety and will help promote rapid adoption of Electric Vehicles.
Subsidy:
Delhi government has announced a subsidy of Rs. 6000 per charger and a single window solution for consumers to select one of 12 empanelled vendors with an option between a capex or opex model. The electricity utility company BSES is also involved to make this process as smooth as possible for the consumers. All government buildings have also been directed to install Electric Vehicle charging points in Delhi.
New construction:
Most big cities are also pushing for EV charging stations to be set up at new multistory buildings. Malls and office complexes are also going to have mandatory charging stations to reduce range anxiety.
Battery Swapping:
With the Budget 2022, battery swapping has gotten a policy framework. Battery swapping will encourage EV adoption even more as people would have to spend even less time charging than before. This is most encouraging for commercial fleets.