Kamal Ghorui
Now is the time for automakers to step up and lead the setting up of EV-charging infra
It’s anyone’s guess how long the US-Israel-Iran war will continue. What’s clear is that, there’s no better time to step on the gas, read electric, to push for a swift and seamless transition to electrification of transport. EVs’ contribution, to ensuring energy security, cannot be overstated. Great idea, right? But, as a Tesla motorist discovered on a trip from Delhi to Jaipur and back, the road – to a stress-free EV cruise – is very bumpy. As the motorist discovered, what the app showed, differed from ground reality; charging stations were few & far between; charging points were out-of-order.
With that as an on-road experience, it’s no wonder EV penetration was barely less than 8%, fiscal 2025. That’s not encouraging for GOI’s goal of 30% annual vehicle sales to be electric, by 2030, just four years away. One thinktank pegged the actual numbers – to keep 50mn EVs moving, India would need 1.3mn charging stations by 2030. Per a Niti report, over Rs 40k cr were spent by way of incentives, over the last 10 years, to reach 7.6% penetration. And it’s obvious the problem with selling EVs, still, is the hassle of running EVs.
Niti argues ‘gentle’ mandates, and disincentives, will push the EV transition. Globally, laying out the EV charging infra has been led by consortiums of auto-companies. It happened in US, Europe, South Korea, Japan. India has around 20 charging point operators, but they can neither build the infra, nor maintain it at the scale required for a meaningful transition — limited cash flow, unsure returns, and fragmented regulatory landscape are all speed-breakers. In India, too, the mandate/disincentive should be for GOI to tell Indian automakers to stop whining for more incentives, and instead, get their skin in the game – and partner with govts to build the charging infra.
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