EV Charging - Caught between the devil and the deep sea.

Electric Vehicles is the future of mobility - that is undoubtable. With major back to back announcements in the EV space in 2021, the last few doubters have been brushed aside. The last nail on the coffin is probably the increasing fuel prices; these doubts are now reversed into certainties that the 'Future is Electric and will happen so at an electrifying pace'.

Having said that, EV charging is grappling with some serious challenges. Many of which have been discussed and accepted on multiple forums and yet to be resolved in some sense. This article is not about technical challenges but key stakeholders who will need to loosen up on their old ways of doing things, without which EV and EV charging is bound to be the Achilles heel.

Unfortunately, in India, the business of EV charging is stuck between multiple seas (no devils though) - all of whom are stakeholders to the ecosystem but have their own set of challenges to add to the table.

Electric Vehicle Manufacturers (OEMs): The large vehicle manufacturers in India have always been used to one certainty - Auto ancillaries and suppliers need them more than they need the suppliers. There was enough competition amongst traditional suppliers which created a 'Buyers market' for the Auto OEMs where the 'OEMs decision was final'. Fortunately or unfortunately, EV Charging is not a traditional Supplier - Buyer relationship. And misconstruing it to that typical one sided 'I decide it all' has become the reason for the downfall of some of the pioneering EV players in India.

EV manufacturers need to understand that EV charging is a partnership model and not a supplier relationship and it needs to be accorded that due respect. The rules and best practices inside a factory shop floor do not hold good at roadside public chargers where the vagaries of life and reactions of users are a lot more uncertain and uncontrolled.

However, it is heartening to know that OEMs have started to look at the EV manufacturing - EV Charging - EV ownership relationship from outside the traditional lens. The ones who do so faster are the ones who will acquire mind and market space.

Electricity DisComs: Electricity has always been a regulated market in India. After the initial attempts in early 2000s to open up this sector, the Indian power sector lost the plot and was stuck with loss making distribution companies especially government controlled whose only survival strategy was 'no competition, no challenge, no change'. This strategy has meant that well meaning initiatives in clean energy like net metering have also been "grossed out".

In the EV charging space, the same strategy seems to be playing out with considerable hinderances meted out to EV charging infrastructure initiatives. Statements often heard include "Special permission lagega" (loosely translated as 'this is our business, how can you step in'), "File ke liye time chahiye" ('you will have to wait for months for us to decide on rules which do not exist and we do not have a clue of'), "Grid will fail and you will need special infrastructure to be paid for by you" ('We did not invest in upgrading our power infrastructure all these years and this new load will trip us off'). These are just a reflection of how DisComs are unprepared to engage with EV charging partners. Those believing or saying that setting up EV billing meters is easy are grossly understating the efforts required or running with a lucky charm which is out of this world.

Fortunately, there are private DisComs who are taking a different view on this and are going out of the way to support new initiatives in EV charging. But the numbers of such entities and individuals do not need more than two hands to count.

Government Regulatory Bodies: EV charging or any other aspect of the EV ecosystem traverses at least 5 government bodies and approving agencies. These bodies and regulatory authorities have different mandates which are bound by their regular business and priorities built over the years. While EV is bound to take off despite and inspite of these 'out-of-sync' policies, the Indian government will soon see value in forming a team or organization whose only mandate is to sync, support and solve policy issues. Till then it will be left to the entrepreneurs and pioneering users of the EV world to challenge and push the envelopes of the policies they are bound by. The pace at which our government is pushing for EV is not matched by the updates or clarity in policies which need to follow.

The need for this article was not to demonize these stakeholders, but to call out the deep seas that need to be traversed across these entities. Like rivers that find their ways to the seas, EV technology is bound to find its path or to make one. It is upto these stakeholders to decide whether they want to be a dam slowing down the flow or to become a channel and guide to that growing surge of EV which is building up.