Charging up India’s electric vehicles

Abstract

India’s ambitious electric mobility targets are highly dependent on the availability of robust charging infrastructure and readiness of the power system to integrate the additional flexible EV load. Indian policymakers at state and national level are proactively pursuing actions for developing EV charging infrastructure (EV service providers) on supply-side and EV users’ (demand side). Further enhancements for supply-side can come from the role of distribution companies (DISCOMs), tariff design, incentives, permitting processes and data privacy, and on the demand side from payment methods, minimum facilities, charging station user registration and consumer complaints. EV charging business in India is at its early stage, and it has a large scope for business model innovation. As EV penetration increases and market grows, innovations can be expected in the areas of service provision, partnership and pricing. EV load can increase peak demand and distribution grid congestion. Solutions are emerging to avoid more investment in generation and network capacity such as time-varying tariff and flexibility measures taken by the DISCOM to deal with these issues. V2X is still in an early stage but would become relevant as the market matures. The accuracy in predicting the availability of V2X resource and minimising market entry barriers for V2X service provision can be improved through aggregation, allowing smaller minimum bid volumes and contract periods, asymmetric products and shorter lead times. The search for the most appropriate solutions would benefit from regulatory sandboxes both at the national and state level.