Govt support drives demand

The electric vehicle charging infrastructure market in India is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of over 40% during 2019-2025, says a report by ResearchAndMarkets on 13 August 2019.

Increasing government support is one of the major factors driving the electric vehicle charging infrastructure market in India, said the “Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Market in India – Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, Trends, and Forecast up to 2025” report.

Under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) II scheme, the Government has plans to provide subsidy for 10 lakh two-wheelers, 5 lakh three-wheelers, around 55,000 four-wheelers, and 7,000 buses.

This is expected to accelerate the number of electric and hybrid vehicles on the road and will increase the need for electric vehicle charging stations, said the report.

The government also has planned a subsidy for deploying 5,000 electric vehicle charging stations in cities and highways across the country, noted the report.

Currently, most of the charging stations in India are provided by the government while private companies focused on electric vehicle charging.

However, private company and government-funded charging stations will not be adequate to satisfy the demand for charging from the increasing number of electric vehicles during the forecast period.

There will be a need for community charging stations, i.e., electric vehicle charging stations set up by businesses, hotels, or resorts.

Currently, there are more than 250 community charging stations operating in India, according to the report.

Community charging stations are expected to witness significant growth in the electric vehicle charging infrastructure market in India, post electric vehicles gain more traction in the country, especially for long journeys including interstate travel.

Having a well-developed power grid infrastructure is among the major pre-requirements for setting up an electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

One of the key stakeholders in the electric vehicle charging infrastructure market in India is power distribution companies. Setting up a charging station for electric vehicles do not require a separate license in India, which can boost the number of electric vehicle charging stations in the country, said the report.

Also, residential and commercial complexes are mandated to allow 20% of their parking space for accommodating electric vehicle charging facilities as per the guidelines issued by the Housing and Urban Development Ministry since January 2019.

It is estimated that power distribution companies could earn more than US$6 billion per year by 2030 if 30% of the total vehicles in India are electric vehicles.

Based on the type of charging, the electric vehicle charging infrastructure market in India is segmented into direct charging and battery swapping.

Direct charging is further segmented into fast charging and slow charging.

The most commonly used fast charging methods are CHAdeMO and CCS. CHAdeMO is mainly used by Japanese automobile manufacturers, while CCS is widely used by most of the European, US, and South Korean automobile manufacturers.

Since India has not reached a standardization in fast charging methods, the government has mandated electric vehicle charging stations to install both CHAdeMO and CCS methods, which has increased the cost of setting up an electric vehicle charging station in the country.

Due to the cost issue, in July 2019, the government modified the guidelines and allowed electric vehicle charging station developers to choose the method they prefer.

Based on component, the electric vehicle charging infrastructure market in India is segmented into hardware and software and services.

Hardware comprises sockets, cables, and charging units. Software and services include installation and maintenance of charging units, platform as a service, and other services.

Other services include battery delivery service and towing service, which are in a very nascent stage in India.

Based on location, the electric vehicle charging infrastructure market in India is segmented into highways and cities.

In India, most of the electric vehicle charging stations are being deployed in cities.

However, the government has set up plans to put more charging points in major highways and expressways, including Mumbai-Pune Expressway, Delhi-Agra Yamuna Expressway, and Bengaluru-Chennai Highway.

The industry vendors are: Sun Mobility, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, ACME Group, Ather Energy, Cell Propulsion, Exicom, Panasonic, Semco Group, Fortum, Tritium, ABB, Ionex, Evteq Mobility, Delta Electronics and RRT Electro Power. fiinews.com