Faced with low-voltage sales, Tesla is reportedly planning to set up home charging units, superchargers in major metros, and chargers at malls and hotels. Yes, EVs in general need a push. Despite policy support and growth in EV charging stations – from 1,800 in early 2022 to over 30,000 in mid-2025 – India’s EV ecosystem remains woefully inadequate, posing the biggest barrier to faster EV adoption. The country has 5 charging stations for every 100-odd km of roads. China has 100, Norway 180.
This shortage is reflected in the share of EVs plying on roads – 5 per cent in India, 48 per cent in China, nearly 100 per cent in Norway. Revving up EV sales will require ramping up infrastructure. If it’s built, sales will happen.
An ambitious goal of 30 per cent EV penetration by 2030 requires a 44x scale-up of charging stations – from 30,000 to 1.32 mn – in less than 5 years. Adequate public funds underpinning policy and programmes are in place, such as PM E-DRIVE with an outlay of ₹2,000 cr. But government funding alone won’t charge things up.
The public EV ecosystem must leverage the infra being set up by auto companies like Mahindra and Tata Motors, and partnerships with charging point operators. The infra must be interoperable and single platform, for user charges will help augment the network efficiently.
But before revving up, existing problems need fixing. Of the 30,000-odd charging stations in India, only about 15,550 are operational. Many of these are slow chargers. Unreliable power supply hinders functioning, as does poor maintenance and theft of components. Location of chargers must be planned to help broad-base adoption across geographies.
A focused approach to building the EV infra ecosystem will create consumer confidence. That’s the push to convert into a shove.
