Detailed Guideline On Opening An Electric Car Charging Station In India

Considering the heavily polluted environment in India, electric vehicles are highly encouraged and becoming more and more popular in the country with a wide range of automakers manufacturing EVs nowadays. Some of the striking examples are Mahindra, Hyundai, Tata, etc. Nevertheless, the number of electric charging stations is still very limited, which is one of the factors hindering the development of EVs. The following session will provide you with a detailed guideline on how to open an electric car charging station in India.

The Tata Nexon EV is one of the most popular EVs in India now.

What are the requirements for EV public charging station (PSA) installation?

• Parking space for electric cars;

• No fewer than five ISO-certified charging machines (refer to the table below for a detailed representation of the required machines);

• Space for the charging machines;

• One transformer;

• Cable transmission;

• Safe and secure areas for charging stations.

Which types of vehicles can be charged at PSAs?

2-wheeler, 3-wheeler, 4-wheeler, buses and other big vehicles can be charged at PSA. Nevertheless, the PSA is required to have sufficient space for these vehicles. Generally, the three first types of vehicles are easier to be charged in comparison with big ones since the former requires less space for parking. In the meanwhile, buses and other large vehicles which require more space for parking need to satisfy the following requirements:

• No fewer than two chargers of at least 100 kW each of different specifications (CCS and Chamdemo) with a single connector gun;

• Appropriate Liquid Cooled Cables in high-speed charging facility for Fluid Cooled Batteries’ onboard charging;

• Battery swapping facilities for Fast Charging Stations (FCS).

How much does installing an electric car charging station installation cost?

The electric car charging installation cost varies, depending on the following factors:

• Land rental;

• Charging machines;

• Transformer;

• Electric connections and cables;

• Technicians;

• Labour;

• Breakers;

• Software Management Team;

• Maintenance;

• Branding/Marketing.

What are the required locations of PCSs

There are also some requirements for the locations of PCS that should be followed:

• At least one charging station must be installed in a 3x3-kilometre grid. Moreover, one charging station must be set up at every 25 kilometres on highways/roads’ both sides. For long-range and heavy EVs, one Fast Charging Station should also be available one on each side of the highways. In cities, charging stations should be located within Transport Nagars and bus depots.

• The appropriate authorities (State/Central/UTs) can also give priorities to the current retail outlets (ROs) of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) in the permission to install of PCSs. Moreover, Company Owned and Company Operated (COCO) within such ROs will also be given further preference.

The chargers should conform to fixed location requirements.

Electric charging stations should be installed more in India, why?

The air pollution in India is rising at an alarming speed, which makes India become one of the most heavily polluted countries. The two major contributory factors to this high level of air pollution in the country are industrial pollution and vehicular pollution, in which the former accounting for about 51% of the total pollution and the latter constituting around 27%. As a result, electric vehicles which are much more environmetally-friendly become an ideal alternative to ICE-powered vehicles. Electric vehicles need to be sufficiently charged to operate well so the demand for charging stations is also increasing.

Above are some basic guidelines on how to open an electric car charging station in India. This is only a summary of the most important points on installing an electric car charging station in India. For more information, please refer to the full document which is published by the Ministry of Power on December 14, 2018.