Overview of India’s Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure

In India, both the public and private sectors are accelerating efforts to expand the country’s charging infrastructure. Although the BEV market in India is still in its infancy, it is likely that electrification of two and three-wheeled vehicles will advance ahead of four-wheeled vehicles. Public companies, major electric power companies and startups have begun to install charging stations mainly in urban areas. It is estimated that India had approximately 340 public charging stations as of 2019. Even if private facilities were to be included the number of stations was less than 1,000. However, several charging infrastructure construction companies have proposed installation plans for hundreds to thousands of stations, so the charging infrastructure is expected to gradually improve.

In the public sector, the development of charging stations for public use is promoted in accordance with the FAME India scheme, which is a measure to accelerate the spread and production of electric vehicles by the Indian government. In the second phase of FAME India, the total budget for BEV charging infrastructure development is set at 10 billion rupees. In January 2020, India approved a plan to install 2,636 BEV charging stations during the second phase of FAME-India. The 2,636 stations will be set up in 62 cities across 24 states and union territories.

In the private sector, Tata Power, a major electric power company, and Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), a state-owned oil company, are developing charging stations, but startups are also increasing their presence. Sun Mobility co-founded by Chetan Maini, who launched India’s first BEV maker Reva (now Mahindra Electric Mobility), is promoting the construction of a battery-swapping charging infrastructure. In 2019, Sun Mobility started a partnership with Piaggio Vehicles and Uber. Another startup EVI Technologies announced in January 2020 that it will jointly work with state-owned telecommunications company BSNL to install 5,000 battery swapping and charging stations over the next 10 years.