The government of India has released new operational guidelines for its PM E-DRIVE scheme, which aims to deploy over 72,000 public EV chargers and battery-swap stations nationwide. Authorities have earmarked approx. €220m (2,000 crore) in subsidies for installing the chargers.
The subsidies are to be distributed according to the type of installation site, in some cases covering costs for both chargers themselves (EV Supply Equipment or EVSE) and upstream infrastructure (like cabling, fencing, or transformers). The scheme reportedly aims to support 22,100 fast chargers for four-wheeled EVs, 1,800 bus chargers, and 48,400 chargers for two and three-wheelers, which are among the most popular vehicles in India.
Public chargers installed at government buildings will be fully subsidised, with the money covering both upfront infrastructure and EVSE as well as upstream costs. Meanwhile, chargers at publicly owned transport hubs (i.e. airports, train stations, bus depots, metro stations or highway stops) will receive an 80 per cent subsidy for upstream infrastructure and 70 per cent for EVSE. Charging stations at any other locations, such as streets, cities, shopping centres or market complexes will receive an 80 per cent subsidy, but only for upstream infrastructure. Support is also being extended for battery swapping stations, which will receive an 80 per cent infrastructure subsidy when deployed at any location.
The exact amount of subsidy is then broken down by benchmark costs. Autocar Pro states that for upstream infrastructure, these costs “vary by charger capacity, ranging from Rs 6.04 lakh for chargers up to 50 kW to Rs 24 lakh for those above 150kW.” And, for EVSE, benchmark costs are determined by charger type or capacity: “The cost for a 50 kw CCS2 charger is Rs 7.25 lakh, while a 100 kW CCS2 charger is set at Rs 11.68 lakh.”
If constructed, the addition of over 72,000 charging sites would place India among the world’s largest charging markets, rivaling China and outpacing most European countries. The inclusion of battery swapping stations in the subsidy scheme also puts India ahead of many European countries in terms of early adoption of this technology.
livemint.com, autocarpro.in
