A Robust Public Charging Infrastructure is a must for mass adoption of EV

The automobile industry is gearing up for paradigm shift. The internal combustion engines (ICE), the prime mover of the industry for more than hundred years, is letting electric vehicles (EVs) drive in the high speed lane. The appeal of EV to general public can be appreciated from the fact that year 2021 saw a sale of 6.6 million cars globally which was twice of that in 2020. Compared to year 2019, just prior to pandemic, market share of EV was four times in 2021. Close to 5 million plug-in EVs have been sold till July 2022 which is close to 80% of total sales for entire year of 2021. In our country also, sales of EV has been increasing at very high rate. In FY22 sales of EV across segments jumped threefold compared to FY21. Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturer (SIAM) has estimated that EVs would make up 40 per cent of new car sales by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2047. This milestone date coincides with 100 years of the country’s independence. A robust public charging infrastructure particularly for 4W PEV would be required for mass adoption of EV.????

Need for Public Charging (Any time charging)

A report of McKinsey and IEA ?indicates that India will need more public charging than private charging because of its higher population density. When we compare the adoption of EVs and the share of public charging among nations like Norway, the United States, the Netherlands, China, and Poland that were early adopters of EVs, this is further supported. In terms of the ratio of automobiles per charging station, countries with larger population densities have a denser public charging infrastructure measured in number of vehicles to charge point (VCP). Netherlands (~450 person per km2 ) has VCP as 4, China (~150 people per km2) has 6, and US (~36 person per km2 ) has 79.

When consumers discover that there are chargers available in their vicinity, their decision to buy an ?EV gets boosted. The need for a public charging network that any EV user can access at any time remains paramount, so to speak.

In a densely populated and space constraint country like ours, having a reliable and widespread public charging network is the optimum utilization of national resources. One unit of space equipped with chargers would serve many EVs compared to private charging. Besides, public charging is also optimal from grid point of view as it would allow the capacity created to be utilized to the maximum extent compared to home charging where capacity shall be used only for few hours. Though home charging would be preferred by end users during the initial period when public charging network is getting developed, on system level this would be sub-optimal use of resources. For multi storied apartments, it would be prudent to go for community charging instead of individual charging in each parking. As a country we need a rethinking on pushing for home charging in each parking spots.

Today fast charging technology has evolved to offer same/similar experience to EV user in terms of time as one ICE user would get at gasoline station.?CPOs have started offering charging at 150-350 KW level which can charge a compatible car in less than 10 minutes to give 125-150km. Recently China and Japan have joined hand together to develop high power charger which can deliver power upto 900KW which can theoretically pump enough power to battery in less than 5 minutes to drive for more than 400 km.?As average charger capacity continues to increase, it becomes more efficient and less costly, thereby reducing recharging time. Another development which is taking shape at global level in 4W EV segment is wireless charging. This would be very helpful for fleet particularly at locations where drivers are waiting in queue for their turn like at the Airport. Wireless charging will offer continuous charging to the vehicles while they’re waiting and moving in the queue.?

?Conclusions

As use of ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicles have been ingrained in our habits due to its adoption for last 100 years, we need to give time to let EV become part of our habits. Thanks to pandemic induced change in working habits, acceptance of digital mode of interaction augurs well for EV adoption as one can use the time effectively while their EV is getting charged.??As quoted by Mahatma Gandhi, action precedes habits; word leads action; thought heralds words; and belief precedes thought; today EV has become part of our belief system and soon it will be part of our habit. This change is inevitable.?

Written by Awadhesh Kumar Jha , Executive Director - Fortum Charge & Drive India published in Express Mobility, The Financial Express (India) (Digital)

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