High fuel prices and a flurry of incentives from states has morphed into a major tailwind for electric vehicles in 2021 but one critical component that is lagging behind and could potentially hamper growth in future is charging infrastructure.
Currently, there are less than 2000 charging stations in the country, which is modest and reasonable given the low number of electric vehicles on the road. That is however, set to change. At least in the case of two and three wheelers, prices of electric versions are close to parity with their petrol and diesel counterparts and sales are likely to explode in the next few years. While a number of players including Tata Power, Fortum, Delta, ABB and state owned EESL have ventured into setting up charging network, the aggression is lacking.
“Especially for two and three wheelers where cost of operations is very imperative, it is important to have a charger available in a radius of 3-4 kilometers if not less. So while that is the intention we have faced so many obstacles in this that we think charging needs a push.” says Mahua Acharya, CEO, Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL).
The business opportunity is massive. Globally, electric vehicle charging industry is estimated to expand to $ 29.7 billion by 2027. According to a report by Grant Thornton, India would need at least 400,000 charging stations by 2026 when it estimates the overall EV population in India at just 2 million. The estimates have a conservative bias. In electric two wheelers alone for example, industry experts believe sales could top 4-5 million units per annum or about 20 percent of all two wheelers sold in the country by 2026.
Especially for two and three wheelers where cost of operations is very imperative, it is important to have a charger available in a radius of 3-4 kilometers if not lessMahua Acharya, CEO, CESL
“The clear observation around the industry growth vs. charging infrastructure installation is that the charging infrastructure is not growing at the same rate pertaining to fleets (2W & 3W). To meet the demand of charging infrastructure for 4-5 million 2W EVs, the country needs about 100,000 charging points with a ratio of 1:50,” said Chandresh Sethia, co-founder at EVRE.
“The Indian EV market is observing tremendous growth through three wheeler EVs in the passenger and logistics space, with EVs contributing to about 14 percent of overall 3W population across the country. In comparison, the EVs constitute a mere <1% in 2W and <0.5% in 4W vehicle types, projecting the clear diversion on adoption of EVs between the three segments. Considering the faster growing 3W EV space, especially the logistics fleet owners require large-scale ‘parking and charging’ infrastructure. Further, the challenge of the 2W & 3W fleet owners is to fulfil the requirement of on-the-go small-time charging points for completion of the last-mile 30-40 KM distances.”
Almost every company that is selling its own electric two or three wheeler in the country is also setting up its own network. Some are doing better than the others. New Delhi based EV startup Euler Motors for example, is yet to formally launch its electric three wheelers in the market–it is expected to do so later this year–but has already set up network of 100 charging points in Delhi/NCR that cater to the 300 vehicles it has leased out so far. It also believes charging is a neglected area and needs to be fixed for the long term sustainability of the industry.
To meet the demand of charging infrastructure for 4-5 million 2W EVs, the country needs about 100,000 charging points with a ratio of 1:50Chandresh Sethia, co-founder at EVRE
“As more and more OEMs launch their products, they will also expand their network but for sometime it does look like charging infrastructure will lag vehicle sales,” said Saruav Kumar, founder and CEO, Euler Motors. “Our assumption is on an average we will need about one charging station for every 4-6 vehicles on the road. In Europe, it is more in the range of 1 charger for every 10 vehicles but we think it may not be that high in India as not everybody will have the liberty of charging at home or of uninterrupted power supply etc. So from an industry perspective, we will need more chargers.”
There is some need for clarity on the policy side as well that could prove to be counter productive. There are multiple types of connectors for vehicle charging available in the market right now–GB/T, Chademo or CCS–but lack of standardisation can be a big hindrance. EESL’s first batch of charging stations for example were equipped with GB/T type pins that are incompatible with the fresh crop of cars like Tata Nexon EV, Audi e-tron, Hyundai Kona, MG ZS EV or Mercedes EQC that conform to CCS type 2 charging specification.
“While on the market penetration side companies need to launch more products in different segments and that will happen, it is necessary for charging infrastructure to keep pace or else it will all be for nothing,” said Shailesh Chandra, president, passenger vehicle business unit for Tata Motors. “It would be good to have standardisation of chargers in India. The focus should be on the main highways in the top 7-8 cities in the country. If we can provide a network of charging points on these roads, then that will be good enough to give a boost to electric mobility because for usage inside the city, home charging will suffice anyway.”
CESL is eyeing sales of 10,000 units this year through the website and app it has created specifically for this. In the not too distant future, CESL is aiming at selling around 200,000 electric two-wheelers.
