Energetica India Magazine nº88 March-April 2020

ELECTRIC VEHICLE Indian EV Charging Infrastructure When India moves back to normalcy post the crisis, it is the EV network which will be the wheels of change. Every crisis in human history has led to new ideas and revolutionary changes. At this time when entire humanity is grappling with a new pandemic, death toll amount- ing in thousands if not millions, cities being locked down, business and factories shut, and a glooming economic recession in sight with catastrophic job losses, it is the what after that we are trying to address. The story of India’s tryst with EVs & EV Charging is a rather new affair. It is a new relationship graduating from infatuation to- wards EV technology to a serious associa- tion, courtesy the push from government. Given the crisis which has crippled the auto industry, the resurgence of mobility will be on the back of EV and hence this article remains as apt. To begin with, it is important to understand the different protocols for charging. Unlike, charging your electronic devices at home, where the convenience of interoperability exists i.e. irrespective of the mobile you use and charging port it comes with, there are devices to help you charge a micro USB port and Type C port using a connector, such easiness is still some time away in EV Technology. At present in India there are 5 charging protocol being followed i.e. Bharat 001 AC, Bharat 001 DC, CCS, Type 2 AC & ChaDeMO. Whereas, Bharat 001 DC & Bharat 001 AC fall under the category of slow charger with capacity of 15kW & 10kW respectively. The other 3 classi- fies as fast chargers with their minimum capacities being 50kw, 22kW and 50 kW respectively. This classification is based on Ministry of Power, Government of India Guidelines. The federal government in its quest to push EV adoption in India has made vari- ous interventions both at policy level and at fiscal level. At policy level it has given guidelines re- garding EV Charging Infra in India. Some of the policies include: 1. Bureau of Energy Efficiency, a statutory body under Ministry of Power, Government of India has been made nodal agency to decide EV Charging related issues. 2. Government has mandated by law to have one charging station in a grid of 3km X 3 km in cities. 3. Additionally, it has also required pres- ence of one charging station at a frequen- cy of 25 km on each side on all National Highways. 4. In order to promote decentralization of EV Charging at Homes and offices, The Government of India, amended the dra- conian The Electricity Act and removed Electricity consumption for EV Charging from its ambit of licensed activity, thus opening doors for mass adoption by public to install and utilize EV Charging. The fiscal andmonetary level interventions include subsidy of INR 1 lakh per EV (on selected make), rationalized vehicle reg- istration charges. A revised GST of 5% on EV and EV Chargers is also being pro- vided. The Government of India has also announced scheme FAME under which a corpus of INR 10,000 Crores have been set up to accelerate EV & EV Charging in India. Whereas such efforts are laudable, how- ever the ground reality remains today that customers are not expressing confidence and aggressiveness in purchasing EVs. Their apprehensions are justified given the factors like range anxiety, dearth of after sales support and service, the high cost of EVs and lack of charging infrastructure. We at Magenta under our ChargeGrid brand are working vigorously to provide dynamic, cost effective and utilitarian solution for EV Charging. Our resolution is to put EV Charger in prox- imity to every EV. In that series, we have installed EVChargers across India andwe recently launched India’s first Street Lamp Charger – Flare to solve EV Parking and Charging issues. Whereas the race to 100% adoption to EVs is a distant dream far from reality if it is to be viewed from today’s periscope, we believe that if all the stakeholders like OEMs, Charging Infra providers, Federal government and state government in association with local government, this herculean task can be materialized. We firmly believe that when India moves back to normalcy post the crisis, it is the EV network which will be the wheels of change. 39 energetica INDIA- March-April_2020 Maxson Lewis Managing Director, Magenta - Power|ChargeGrid|Mobility