Spark a charging-facility boom to hasten EV adoption

Dedicated power lines and sensible tariffs for EV charging could help crack a chicken and egg problem

- Ashok Jhunjhunwala is institute professor, IIT Madras, and chairman, ITEL

A large variety of electric vehicles (EVs) have emerged in India. Their costs have been dropping rapidly, thanks to a fall in battery prices. At the same time, their quality is improving, making them more comfortable and easier to drive as compared to petrol vehicles. The focus of policy now needs to be on ensuring sufficient charging infrastructure. While this is being built, India needs it to grow at a much faster pace to keep up with the growth of EVs in the country.

To get the best life from batteries, it is desirable to charge them slowly (in three to six hours), and this can be done at places where vehicles are parked for a long time. Overnight charging at home and in office parking slots during daytime would, therefore, not only be the most convenient but also the best.

This is done using alternate current (AC) chargers with a power rating of 3 kilowatts (kW), 7 kW, 11 kW or 22 kW. While two- and three-wheelers may require only 3 kW chargers, cars and larger vehicles would require higher-rate chargers. Most Indian cars use 7 kW or 11 kW chargers today and this may go up to 22 kW in the near future.

On the other hand, for long-distance travel or when one is in a hurry, one needs fast chargers of an even higher power-rating to charge cars and larger vehicles, which can juice-up a vehicle in 30 to 60 minutes. Using these only occasionally does not hurt the life of batteries.