Public charging infrastructure for EVs needs deep foresight, careful planning

Electric cab service company, BluSmart, has decided to open up the charging infrastructure for its commercial fleet for the public. Anyone wishing to recharge their personal electric vehicles can use the ‘BluSmart Charge’ application on their mobile phones.

The company’s charging hubs are completely digitally enabled and allow seamless online payments.

What stands out, however, not just for BluSmart’s charging stations but for all the public charging stations across Delhi, is the price differential across locations. While BluSmart’s Ashok Vihar charging hub had a starting rate of Rs 15 / unit, the comparable DC charging rate at the Dilshad Garden Metro charging hub was Rs 2.8 / unit. This would hamper EV adoption.    

Down To Earth’s investigations revealed that these price differentials depend upon the type of charger (if it’s a fast charger the pricing will be higher) and the location of the charger.

Differences in prices of utilities across states, cities and municipalities arise because of the capital and operating expenditures and their variability thereof. But these gaps need to be minimised for the sake of the end-customer who is also the general public in this case. 

Land prices for petrol pumps are also variable across locations within a state. But that doesn’t affect the price of the fuel at the station. It is important that the government intervenes and enables land allocation at favourable rates to the Charge Point Operators (CPO) and regulates the charging rates being offered at different charging hubs.

At a time when air transportation is bridging gaps across continents, it is important to allow easier movement of people and goods across locations and not create price shocks during movement within a city.

The ‘BluSmart Charge’ application lists the company’s 50+ charging stations online for use by individuals as well as fleet operators. Supplied by Tata Power, these charging hubs are 100 per cent powered by renewable energy.

Preparing for the next demand incentive scheme (the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India Phase III), what the country needs at this stage is scale: Production, demand and charging infrastructure, to enable faster fleet renewal on the path to 100 per cent fleet electrification.

Rampant theft of charging cables have been reported from across the United States and even India. Private companies should learn from these instances and set up public charging stations apart from the upcoming infrastructure of home chargers across the country.

Although setting up a charging station is merely a matter of extending an electricity connection, it requires a lot of software and hardware to control entry / exit of vehicles and integrate the charge points with payment systems.

For commercial fleet operators, it requires big data analytics to assess the state of charge of the vehicle and match it to an empty charging slot. It is essential for the private sector to work in tandem with the government starting from the policy level because such a large public infrastructure requires not just technology but also law and order control.

It must be made mandatory for CPOs to instal CCTV cameras at their charging stations, while requiring a minimum vehicle capacity for preferential land allotment for the purpose of setting up a commercial charging station.

Locations of charging stations need to be carefully decided, keeping in mind the EV densities across localities and spatial planning of the city. A charging hub near a shopping locality like Lajpat Nagar, for instance, may have more fast chargers, while business districts like Tughlaqabad Institutional Area and Nehru Place may have a higher ratio of slow chargers because charge times here can be longer.

It is also essential to announce the locations of these charging stations on road signs along with mobile apps and keep an optimal mix of different charger types at each hub.

With over 4,000 public charging stations across the city, Delhi can become a model for other cities in the country, which can customise their approach to suit the local infrastructure.