Electric Vehicles: ‘Policy push’ needed for universal charging standards

Globally, EV sales have been rising at a “fast” pace to over 10 lakh units being sold in 2017 from just over 2,000 in 2008. Over half of the sales were in China, which had a market share of around 2 per cent for electric cars. In comparison, the Indian market share of electric cars is a “meagre” 0.06 per cent, stated the survey.

Given India’s “large” import dependence for petroleum products, the survey stated that it is “imperative” that there be a shift of focus to alternative fuels to support the country’s mobility in a sustainable manner. India could emerge as a hub for manufacturing EVs, it added.

However, limited availability of charging infrastructure for the batteries of these EVs, which provide limited driving range, was pegged as a major impediment to increasing their adoption. The time taken to completely charge these EVs, anywhere between half an hour to eight hours, depending on how fast the charger is, is also an impediment, as per survey.

“It is, therefore, an important policy issue to come up with universal charging standards for the country as a whole to enable increased investment in creation of such infrastructure. It is equally important to provide information on public chargers to the users of EVs through online maps and other means such as physical signage,” it stated. “Also, since the battery is the heart of any EV, development of appropriate battery technologies that can function efficiently in the high temperature conditions in India need to be given utmost importance.”

“Future policy direction should orient itself to enhanced energy efficiency programmes in different sectors of the economy as well as technological solutions to better utilise India’s natural resource endowments,” it added.