Que: Is India currently facing a shortage of charging points, or is the bigger challenge the availability of reliable, high-performance fast chargers?

Ans: India has made significant progress on charging infrastructure, but the challenge is about quality, power and utilisation rather than simply the number of charging locations. India had 29,151 public charging stations as of December 2025, while the broader charging network, including battery-swapping infrastructure, had reached 67,657 chargers by August 2026. At the same time, nearly 73 percent of chargers were rated below 30 kW.

As EV adoption increases and battery capacities grow, particularly across passenger cars, buses and commercial vehicles, the requirement will increasingly be for high-power DC charging that delivers faster turnaround and predictable performance.

I would therefore not describe India’s challenge simply as a shortage of chargers. The next challenge is building a charging network that is reliable, appropriately powered, strategically located and commercially sustainable.

Que: The industry often measures progress by the number of chargers installed. Why do you believe the conversation needs to shift towards charger performance, uptime and strategic placement?

Ans: The number of chargers is an important infrastructure metric, but it cannot be the only measure of progress.

One of the clearest indicators is utilisation. Recent industry assessments have estimated charging-station utilisation at only around 1–5 percent, despite rapid infrastructure expansion. A strategically located high-power charger that operates consistently can have a greater impact than multiple underutilised chargers in locations with limited demand.

Another key metric is uptime and reliability of chargers. Based on our conversation with the customers across the segments, at any given point of time 20-30 percent of the chargers across the fleet of public chargers are down for various reasons which are beyond grid availability issues. As the utilisation of these public chargers is showing upward trend, availability is also becoming an increasing customer friction issue at public charging sites. This non-availability of the chargers not only adds to customer discomfort but also severely undermines the brand image of the charger operating organisations.

Finally, another important metric is the turnaround time for any charger which is down. Any charger that is not working is adding to lost revenue opportunity for the owning agency and added customer discomfort. This is also a key metric given the fact that the number of fast DC public chargers that are needed in the country than those available on the ground is still low. As the ecosystem matures, we should increasingly evaluate charging infrastructure in terms of energy delivered, uptime, turnaround time and utilisation.

Que: India’s charging infrastructure has to operate in challenging conditions, including high temperatures, dust, voltage fluctuations and intensive utilisation. How does EVERTA design its chargers to withstand these conditions?

Ans: India’s operating environment makes reliability particularly important because a charger deployed on a highway or at a fleet depot may operate for long hours and under significantly different utilisation.

At EVERTA, our approach is to design for the complete operating environment rather than focusing only on the power rating which includes thermal management, protection systems, power electronics, connectivity, remote monitoring and intelligent control.

Our DC fast-charging portfolio covers the 60 kW to 320 kW range, allowing us to address different use cases from urban charging to high-utilisation fleet and highway applications. Our higher-power platforms are designed for high-voltage charging and dynamic power management.

We also believe software is increasingly becoming part of charger reliability. With connectivity, protocols such as OCPP and remote diagnostics, operators can monitor charger performance and identify issues without waiting for a physical inspection.

Que: Do highways, urban public charging hubs and fleet depots require fundamentally different charging architectures?

Ans: The charging architecture must reflect the vehicle’s duty cycle, dwell time, power requirement and utilisation pattern.

The government guidelines distinguish between normal public charging requirements and fast charging for long-range and heavy-duty vehicles, including buses and trucks.

On highways, the priority is high power and minimum turnaround time. Urban charging hubs require a combination of accessibility, space efficiency, smart load management and multiple charging options. Fleet and bus depots are different because vehicles operate according to predictable schedules and may need to charge multiple vehicles simultaneously within a defined window.

This is why EVERTA’s approach is to look at the application first and then determine the appropriate charging architecture. A 60 kW charger, a 120 kW system and a 240–320 kW charger can all have a role, but their economics and deployment logic are different.

The objective should not be to deploy the highest-power charger everywhere. It should be to deploy the right power, at the right location, for the right vehicle and duty cycle.

Que: EVERTA is implementing an approved INR 300-crore investment roadmap for its Bengaluru manufacturing plant. What will this investment enable in terms of capacity, technology and localisation?

Ans: The INR 300-crore investment roadmap is intended to position EVERTA for the next phase of India’s charging infrastructure growth.

A CII assessment estimates that India could require around 1.32 million charging stations by 2030.

The Bengaluru facility will be an important part of this ecosystem, enabling EVERTA to scale production, strengthen technology capabilities and respond faster to the evolving requirements of CPOs, fleets, OEMs, highways and other charging infrastructure operators.

Que: As high-power charging stations put significant demand on the grid, what role will battery energy storage play in the expansion of India’s charging infrastructure?

Ans: Battery energy storage can become a critical enabler as charging power increases. The issue is not necessarily the total electricity demand from EVs. The larger challenge can occur at the local distribution level, where concentrated high-power charging can create significant peaks even when EV electricity demand remains a relatively small share of overall national electricity consumption.

This is where BESS can add value. Instead of designing every charging site around its maximum instantaneous load, storage can help manage peak demand by charging the battery during lower-demand periods and supplementing grid power when multiple vehicles need to charge simultaneously. The opportunity becomes particularly relevant for highway charging stations, bus depots and high-utilisation fleet hubs.

In our view, the future charging station will increasingly be an energy-management system, integrating the grid, charging hardware, battery storage, renewable power and intelligent software.

Que: Over the next three to five years, which segments do you expect to drive the strongest demand for DC fast charging—passenger vehicles, fleets, buses or long-haul logistics?

Ans: I expect demand to become increasingly diversified, but commercial mobility particularly fleets, buses and logistics are likely to be one of the strongest drivers of high-power DC charging.

A private passenger EV may spend several hours parked and can often use slower charging at home or at work. A commercial vehicle generates value when it is moving. Every hour spent waiting to charge has a direct operational cost.

India’s FY2026 EV sales reached approximately 26.6 lakh units, but nearly 87 percent of EV volumes were still concentrated in two- and three-wheelers. The next major opportunity for high-power DC charging will come as larger passenger EVs, buses, commercial fleets and freight vehicles scale up.