Energetica India Magazine May-June 2021

Electric vehicles are the next big thing to happen to India. There are a lot of con- versations around the benefits of EVs, how they will help mitigating the pollution scene in India and so on. The narrative is not whether, its only about how soon EVs become the mainstream option of mo- bility. As per estimates about 25% of the vehicles sold in India in 2024 will run on electric drivetrains. That’s very ambitious but our government is doing all it can to facilitate that. Similarly, there have been a lot of conver - sations about EV charging infrastructure in India to support the impending arrival of EVs. An optimal charging infrastruc - ture would mean broadly, there has to be a charger for every 8-15 vehicles. These chargers could be in different combina- tions of slow and fast chargers. Do the math and one would know that we need hundreds and thousands of chargers of various denominations to drive the EV revolution in our country. Setting up a widespread public charging infrastruc- ture apart from being capital intensive, requires a good amount of technical & project management expertise. Compa- nies like Tata Power are doing it at a rapid pace to welcome EVs into the country. However, setting up an EV infrastructure is not just about running a project to in- stall chargers on the ground as one may be tempted to believe. It’s mainly about managing the customer experience and that’s where smaller myopic operators who may have joined the ‘proverbial’ gold rush, tend to falter. But what is customer centricity in the context of a Charge Point Operator? Few pointers: Ownership of Customer Experience: • A Charge Point Operator is mean to act like a Chief Conductor of an orches- tra. The other players in the orchestra are Charger hardware maker, Digital Platform interface, Power utility, communications service provider and even the EV maker. The customer is at the centre of this or- chestra and expects all the elements of the orchestra to perform in unison each time he goes to the charger to get ‘juiced up’. • The operator needs to listen to the EV owner through any channel that he chooses to connect on. A multi-modal customer support in the form of 24x7 contact center, an in-app chat, online web-support, SM channels and similar, are things customers look for - depend- ing upon their profile and preference at the time. This is an assurance to the customer that she won’t be stranded at a time she needs to charge her vehicle. • A good on-ground presence in multi- ple cities is necessary for effective and timely Customer response. This is also needed for routine preventive Operations and Maintenance, quick response for breakdowns of the charger hardware and supporting electrical infrastructure. Platform as a Key Enabler • The enabling platform holds the key to the operations of a Charger Point oper- ator. The platform which is a confluence of multiple technologies not only enables automated workflows, it also offers MIS and analytics to improve operational efficiency of a Charge Point Operator. The platform dashboards act as a cen- tral monitoring console for the health of the chargers. There have been instanc- es where chargers are installed but are dysfunctional. Not only is this a colossal waste of resources, but also a source of dissonance to the customer who is un- able to benefit from that infrastructure if her car cannot get charged. • The Platform in the form of a mobile EV Charging is More about Customer Centricity than Hardware ELECTRIC VEHICLES Sandeep Bangia Head – EV & Home Automation, Tata Power Setting up an EV infrastructure is not just about running a project to install chargers on the ground as one may be tempted to believe. It’s mainly about managing the customer experience and that’s where smaller myopic oper- ators who may have joined the ‘proverbial’ gold rush, tend to falter. 28 energetica INDIA- May-June_2021