One of the biggest hurdles in the growth of electric vehicles in the country has been the lack of adequate number of charging stations or charging points. They have a term for it: Range anxiety. It is the fear of driving an electric vehicle and running out of power, without being able to find a charging station on time to replenish the battery.
But things are decidedly getting better, what with EV charging companies, EV manufacturers and other stakeholders getting down to the business of improving the infrastructure in a committed manner.
Traditional petrol station companies like IOC and BPCL have slowly gotten to providing electric charging in many of their existing outlets. BPCL has also tied up with Hero MotoCorp for improving the charging infra in the country. Adanis have also gotten into it, extending their gas stations network to the EV ecosystem as well.
Electricity companies like Tata Power have tied up with top construction firms in Mumbai and Delhi to provide charging points in housing societies and commercial establishments. Charging company Magenta is taking them to educational institutions.
Continuing the momentum, we now have Charge Zone, a charging network company, partnering with Marriott International to deploy EV charging stations across all its properties in India.
Elsewhere, another charging infratech provider, EVRE and real estate developer Signature Global have announced a partnership for setting up EV charging stations across the latter's properties in Delhi-NCR.
100+ EV charging points at Marriott properties
Charge Zone said it has already installed a fast DC 60kW/120kW charging station at The Westin Mumbai Powai Lake and will complete the installation of 100+ EV chargers at the various Marriott properties in India in a phased manner by December 2022.
These charging stations will be open to the public as well as to users of Marriott’s EV fleet. Charge Zone’s charging stations are Rapid DC charging points with the CCS2 charging protocol that provides 80% charge in 45-60 minutes and full charge in 90-120 minutes depending on the EV’s battery size. These chargers also come with an additional facility of Type-2 AC chargers wherever needed.
Charge Zone has also created an active B2B and B2C network for EV charging stations for both fleet and retail customers. It has set-up up 1450+ charging points across 650+ EV charging stations, serving around 5000 EVs on a daily basis. The company also recently completed the electrification of over 1000 kms of National Highways in India, by installing a network of 20 unmanned, app driven, Superfast EV charging points along the Gujarat- Maharashtra National highway.
EVRE's charging points in RWAs
With regard to EVRE and real estate developer Signature Global deal, an MoU has been signed between the two, and under which EV charging stations will be installed at eight delivered projects of Signature Global with the help of EVRE.
Under the partnership, EVRE will operate and maintain the EV charging infrastructure that it sets up for 10 years. All the charging points at the community will be capable of telematics for real time monitoring, dynamic load management and unmanned operation.
EVRE Co-Founder Krishna K Jasti said, "with nearly 10 lakh million EV registrations, India is moving steadfast towards its clean mobility goals. In order to satiate the EV demand, the realty players must aim to develop future-ready living by capitalising on the EV charging business as encouraged by the central government as well."
EVRE said it is working with realty firms and RWAs to equip EV users with residential EV charging infra.
