Interoperability of public charging stations important for EV proliferation

Increasing the number of public charging stations (PCS) and their utilisation rate will be the key for faster adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in India, which also requires operators to join hands to promote interoperability of such establishments.

Customised Energy Solutions (CES), in its third annual India EV charging infrastructure and battery swapping market overview report, pointed out that as EV industry matures and vehicles start moving across India, a robust e-roaming model will be needed.

“EV drivers may find it challenging to charge their vehicles on different charging networks with the same account, until the networks are interoperable. The charge point operators (CPOs) will be required to join hands and remove this barrier to provide seamless charging experience to the drivers,” it suggested.

• Also read: India’s EV charging infrastructure falls quite short

“India’s electric revolution is gaining momentum at an astonishing pace. This report highlights our nation’s exceptional strides in electrifying the transport sector,” CES President and MD Rahul Walawalkar said.

Government policies and private investments are propelling towards a future with clean, accessible electric mobility, Walawalkar, who is also the founder and President of India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), added.

Type-2 AC charger

In 2021, the total EV chargers supplied stood at 15,430 units, totalling 138 megawatts (MW), which also includes chargers supplied by EV OEMs to be sold along with EVs, procurement by PSUs for public or semi-public installations, by commercial fleet operators and bus operators and charging service providers.

The type-2 AC was majorly used by EV OEMs for supplying passenger E4W and by public sector undertakings (PSU) and CPOs for public charging installations.

The Combined Charging System (CCS) chargers were majorly deployed for captive charging for e-buses and for public charging stations by PSUs and CPOs for providing fast charging for E4Ws.

• Also read: EV charging operators in TN mull expansion as fleet electrification takes off

The report projects that type-2 AC is expected to hold its dominance in 2030 owing to the sale of type-2 AC chargers with each personal 4-wheeler.

The AC001 charger held the second largest share in terms of units in 2021, which is expected to retain its position in 2030 owing to its lower cost as well as compatibility with 2-wheeler, 3-wheeler and low end 4-wheelers.

The CCS chargers hold the second largest share in terms of capacity in 2021 as well as 2030, owing to a rise in deployment in public stations to support electric cars and e-bus by state transportation utilities.

Pain points

The CES report points out that even as EV sales rose 168 per cent y-o-y in 2021, the number of PCS set up by PSUs saw an increase of 39 per cent during the same period.

Currently, majority charging stations are in tier-1 cities resulting in lack of adoption in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Active efforts need to be taken to reduce this gap between EV on road as compared to charge points available to increase EV adoption, it added.

Another issue highlighted by the report is the low returns due to lower utilisation of PCS. The majority of EV owners rely on home or captive chargers over PCS. The PCS to EV ratio in India is around 1: 16.

Although, the current utilisation rate of PCS in India as per estimates is in range of 10-15 per cent, steps such as advertising at stations, refreshment outlets, etc needs to be taken to make a business case of PCS and make them more economically viable, it added.

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