India and IEA hold workshop on EV charging infrastructure

The IEA, together with the India Bureau of Energy Efficiency and the Electric Vehicles Initiative, held a high-level workshop on policy frameworks to deploy electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in Delhi on November 19. The event brought together more than 300 representatives from government, the private sector, think tanks, academia and international organisations.

Worldwide electric car deployment has been growing rapidly over the past ten years, with the global stock of electric passenger cars passing 5 million in 2018, an increase of 63% from the previous year. Responding to the growing volumes of electric vehicles (EV), the number of charging points worldwide grew by around 44% between 2017 and 2018 according to IEA’s Global EV Outlook 2019. In India, total EV sales surpassed 750,000 vehicles last year, including electric two-wheelers (growth of 130% year-on-year), electric three-wheelers and electric passenger vehicles.

The transport sector in India contributes around 142 million tonnes of CO2 annually, out of which 123 million tonnes is from road transport. To mitigate climate impacts, facilitate energy security – particularly in terms of oil imports – reduce air-pollution and promote energy transition, the Government of India has issued ambitious targets towards electric mobility. In February 2019, the Government approved the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) and Electric Vehicles in India (FAME-II) scheme. FAME-II offers support for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure of approximately $1.39 billion over 2020-2022. Revised guidelines and standards for charging infrastructure were also issued in October this year. The government is exploring incentives for manufacturing electric vehicles and batteries to boost economic growth and encourage local manufacturing under its Make in India initiative.

Meanwhile, states are developing electric mobility policies and initiating pilot projects. For example, Karnataka has committed to 100% e-mobility for most vehicle segments in the city of Bangalore by 2030 while Telangana has set an ambitious goal of 100% EV migration by 2030. Government-owned companies are beginning to roll out charging stations, for example, Energy Efficiency Services Ltd is looking at 10,000 stations over the next two years.

At the workshop, Mr Abhay Bakre, Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), emphasised that the need for well-planned, accessible and affordable charging infrastructure while Mr Anil Srivastava, Principal Consultant and Mission Director, National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage of NITI Aayog, highlighted that policies need to be dynamic and in line with the current trends. Joint secretary in the Ministry of Power, Mr Shri Vivek Kumar Dewangan, emphasised that adopting the latest technologies and best practices would boost India's efforts towards the deployment of a sustainable electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Alison Pridmore, energy efficiency transport lead at the IEA, emphasised that a coordinated approach to bring together technology solutions with appropriate enabling policies and frameworks is crucial. Drawing from global experiences, the event identified opportunities to fast-track the deployment of EV charging infrastructure commensurate with increasing electric vehicle deployment, charging needs and evolving power systems.

Throughout the workshop, particular attention was given to how to plan and design charging infrastructure systems to capture potential benefits for the electricity system and on how to match infrastructure to current and future needs, helping to ensure sufficient interoperability. International experiences provided insights into policies and framework conditions that can enable innovative customer-centric business models. Representatives from the full value chain shared experiences and raised issues that need to be addressed to accelerate progress. The final session brought all these topics together through the lens of city-led initiatives. As part of the workshop, Businesses such as Tata Motors, Hyundai Motors, BMW, Okaya Power, Exicom Power, and several other exhibitors showcased e-mobility technologies.