Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL), a subsidiary of Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), plans to float a tender next month to rope in electric vehicle (EV) charging point operators to scale up EV charging infrastructure across the country.

Though CESL is in the process of ramping up charging stations across the country through its own investments, it is planning a shift to an asset-light public-private partnership (PPP) model to ramp up the charging infrastructure further.

Under the proposed PPP mode, CESL will offer land and attract private investors to set up and manage charging stations on a revenue-sharing model.

As of now, CESL puts its own money into equipment and other things while establishing charging stations. It is also maintaining the charging stations. However, the current model doesn’t appear viable as it is not fetching good returns for the company. Returns are expected to improve only if the utilisation levels at charging stations go up, supported by the rise in the adoption of EVs.

New Revenue Model

But CESL seeks to scale up the charging infrastructure faster to drive EV adoption. Hence it has come out with a new model of charge point operators (CPOs).

“CESL can have an agreement with the agencies that own the lands, and the same lands will be offered to private EV charging operators who can set up charging stations, manage and generate revenue, which could be shared by the charging point operators, land-owning agencies and CESL,” Rajneesh Rana, Head, Convergence, CESL, told businessline.

The CPO will invest in equipment and set up, maintain, operate and generate revenue. As per the Ministry of Power’s guidelines, the CPO has to give a fee of ₹1 per kW to the land-owning agencies.

Rana said CESL has structured the model in order to be attractive to private investors. “We feel this model helps scale up charging infra faster,” he added.

CESL is expected to float the tender sometime next month to invite bids from private investors and it may take a month to finalise the operators. It is expected to choose 3-4 players for different regions in order to scale up faster.

Land acquisition

Since private investments are ready to come, we have to identify the lands not only in cities but also on highways to facilitate setting up charging stations, he said.

As most of the prime lands and public spaces, particularly in cities, are owned by ULBs, PWDs and DISCOMs, among others, CESL has planned to approach the State governments in order to have tie-ups with land-owning departments to make the land available for CPOs.

Discussing CESL’s own charging network, Rana said, about 300 of its charging stations are already operational, while 150 more stations are in the process of getting commissioned.

According to a recent ICRA report, the total number of public charging stations grew to more than 10,000 in 2022 from 942 in 2021. The total number is expected to reach in the range of 45,000-50,000 units in 2025.

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