A recent report stated that nearly 58% of EV buyers in India experience range anxiety, highlighting an urgent need for improved charging infrastructure.
A new study by Forvis Mazars throws light on another major hindrance to the adoption of electric vehicles, or EVs, in India- range anxiety. Almost 58% of potential EV buyers are discouraged from switching to electric vehicles because they fear the possibility of being stranded without charge. This article analyzes the findings of the report along with the present EV infrastructure in India and the challenges to overcome for electric vehicle adoption rates to increase.
Current Infrastructure
Even by February 2024, India boasted about 12146 public charging stations; meaning that nearly there are 135 vehicles on roads per charging point. This ratio looks insignificant compared to an average of one charging station per 20 EVs in the United States and one charging station per 10 EVs in China. Charging stations are centralized in metropolitan areas: 70 per cent of these public stations are located in urban hubs. This means that rural and semi-urban areas get barely anything in terms of charging stations. Such a condition only makes potential buyers suffer from range anxiety.
Technical Challenges
As if that were not enough, the report found out that 25% of public charging stations, at least most times, suffer from downtime arising either from some technical issues or from a lack of grid connectivity and maintenance delay. The average time it consumes to charge an EV is something between 1.5 and 2 hours, which is way above the global benchmark for fast chargers of 30 minutes to 1 hour. Such delays would shake consumer confidence and pull them back from investing in electric vehicles.
As Joint Ventures Partner of Forvis Mazars in India, Rohit Chaturvedi voiced, “Addressing the range anxiety is essential to unleashing India’s EV potential.” In addition, he pointed out the need for a synchronized effort to add charging infrastructure, innovations in battery technology, and public-private partnerships. The report mentions Norway as an example of overcoming such range anxiety, that no one is more than 50 kilometres away from a fast charger at any time while using EVs.
The Features:
There are several Key Enablers that can support the growth of EV adoption in India as identified in the report:
- Mileage Batteries: The concern of running short of power shall be removed with the development of batteries that can hold more charge.
- Affordable EV Models: Prices of electric vehicles attract a wider customer base if they become affordable.
- Extensive Charging Networks: Establish a strong network of charging station locations across urban and rural areas.
In addition, innovations such as battery swapping technologies for two and three-wheelers can give immediate remedy to customers with a range of concerns.
Dominating India’s EV Users
Currently, about 90% of Indian EV consumers are dependent on home charging given the very limited availability and reliability of public charging stations. It also indicates how much these kinds of issues need to be accounted for in charging infrastructure development for residential and commercial activities. Grid constraints, however, impede this, with many regions unable to support simultaneous charging during peak hours.
Policy Recommendations
The report prescribes targeted policies to uproot such challenges, in the following form: Subsidization of fast-charging stations: The financial encouragement could help get the necessary infrastructure investment; Tax exemptions on infrastructure investments by the private sector: This will fast-track and hasten development; Classification of electric vehicle charging stations as official state infrastructures: It could access income tax benefits and attract foreign investment.
It paints a dark picture of India’s present hydra which is the EV ecosystem under Forvis Mazars. The serious areas of concern blocking the wider adoption are range anxiety vis-a-vis infrastructure and operational inefficiencies. However, the country would march forward, through appropriate investments in technology and infrastructure, and with active government support that overcomes the almost impossible journey to successfully transforming into a more sustainable future in transportation.
India is finally marching towards becoming electric vehicle heaven like Norway with an effective model learnt from there and then adapted to India-appropriate creativity. The combination of all the relevant stakeholders in the segment-from government to industry to the common man will be required for the dream of the majority of people to own an electric vehicle to come true.
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