Rs 16,000 crore needed to be spent to meet EV charging demand

Sales of Electric Vehicles (EV) have increased rapidly in the last few years. To meet the demand for public charging for EVs in the country, a capital expenditure of about Rs 16,000 crore is required by 2030. Measures have also been taken by the Central Government to promote EV.

This information has been given in the FICCI EV Public Charging Infrastructure Roadmap 2030 report. More than 700 cities were analyzed in this report. Of these, priority can be given to increase public charging infrastructure for top 20 cities and 20 highways. The report states, “The number of EVs in these top 40 cities is expected to increase in the next three-five years. The 20 highways connecting these 40 cities contribute about 50 percent of the vehicle traffic.”

Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat have no or low fixed tariffs. However, in some other states the fixed tariff for charging is higher. Because of this the challenge increases. The report states that all states should follow the recent guidelines of the Power Ministry to have a uniform charging framework. The capital Delhi is leading in terms of number of EVs. About 11.5 percent of the total vehicle registrations in Delhi are EVs. Charging infrastructure for electric vehicles is also being expanded rapidly in the capital. About 11.5 percent of the total vehicles in Delhi are EVs. It is followed by Kerala with 11.1 percent EV. Assam is at third place in this list. The share of EV in the total vehicles in Assam is about 10 percent, of which a large number are electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers.

To increase the sales of EV, recently the Central Government has approved two schemes worth Rs 14,335 crore. It aims to promote EVs including buses, ambulances and trucks and reduce pollution. These schemes include PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) and PM-eBus Sewa-Payment Security Mechanism (PSM). Around Rs 10,900 crore will be allocated for PM E-DRIVE and around Rs 3,435 crore will be allocated for PSM. Under PM E-DRIVE, subsidies/demand incentives worth Rs 3,679 crore will be made available for electric two-wheelers, electric three-wheelers, electric ambulances and electric trucks.