Govt Promulgates Revised Consolidated Guidelines And Standards For EV Charging Infrastructure; Here Are The Details

The Union Ministry of Power has promulgated the revised consolidated Guidelines and Standards for Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles (EV) on Friday (14 January), an official release said.

The objective is to enable a faster adoption of electric vehicles in India by ensuring safe, reliable, accessible and affordable Charging Infrastructure and eco-system, a Power Ministry release said on Saturday.

Further, this would also promote energy security and reduction of emission intensity of the country by promotion of entire EV ecosystem, it added.

These guidelines are exhaustive and include provisions for individual owners of EVs and for public charging stations (PCS).

In a significant step, wwners may charge their EVs at their residence/offices using their existing electricity connections, the ministry said.

Infrastructure requirements for Public Charging Infrastructure as well as for Public Charging Infrastructure for long range EVs or heavy duty EVs have also been outlined, it added.

"Any individual or entity is free to set up public charging stations without the requirement of a license provided that, such stations meet the technical, safety as well as performance standards and protocols laid down under the guidelines as well as norms or standards or specifications laid down by Ministry of Power, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) and Central Electricity Authority (CEA) from time to time," the ministry said.

An exhaustive list of compliance requirements for Public Charging Station (PCS) have also been outlined. These include norms for “appropriate” infrastructure for civil, electricity and safety requirements.

Here are some of the salient features of the revised guidelines:

Technology agnostic Charging Standards

The guidelines have been made further technology agnostic by providing for not only the prevailing international charging standards available in the market but also the new Indian charging standards.

Land at promotional rates for installation of PCS through a Revenue Sharing Model

In order to address the challenge of making a charging station financially viable in the period of growth of Electric Vehicles, a revenue sharing model has been put in place for land used for the same.

Land available with the Government or Public entities will be provided for installation of Public Charging Stations to a Government/Public entity on a revenue sharing basis for installation of Public Charging Station at a fixed rate of Rs 1 per kWh (used for charging) to be paid to the Land-Owning Agency from such PCS business payable on quarterly basis.

A Model Revenue Sharing agreement has also been included under the guidelines. Such revenue sharing agreement may be initially entered by parties for a period of 10 years. The Revenue Sharing Model may also be adopted by the public Land-owning agency for providing the land to a private entity for installation of Public Charging Stations on bidding basis with floor price of Rs 1 per kWh.

Timelines for providing connectivity for the installation of Public Charging Station (PCS)

Timelines have been prescribed as per the Electricity (Rights of Consumers). Accordingly, PCS shall be provided connection within seven days in metro cities, fifteen days in other municipal areas and thirty days in rural areas. Within these timelines the distribution licensees will provide new connection or modify an existing connection, it added.

Tariff for supply of electricity to EV Public Charging Stations

The tariff for supply of electricity to Public EV Charging Stations will be a single part tariff and will not exceed the “Average Cost of Supply” till 31 March 2025. The same tariff will be applicable for Battery Charging Station (BCS). The tariff applicable for domestic consumption will be applicable for domestic charging.

State Governments to fix the ceiling of Service charges

Open Access

Any Public Charging Station or chain of charging stations may obtain electricity from any generation company through open access. Open Access shall be provided for this purpose within 15 days of receipt of the application complete in all respect. They will be required to pay the applicable surcharge – equal to the current level of cross subsidy (not more than 20 percent, as per the Tariff Policy Guidelines), transmission charges and wheeling charges. No other surcharge or charges will be levied except mentioned in this provision.

Database of Public EV Charging Stations

Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) will create and maintain a national online database of all the Public Charging Stations in consultation with State Nodal Agencies (SNAs).

Bureau of Energy Efficiency will create a Web-Portal/Software/Mobile Application for the database of Public Charging Stations throughout the country.

As per the details available with BEE, a total of 1,028 Public Charging Stations (PCS) have been installed throughout the country.

BEE as the Central Nodal Agency (CNA) is in process of preparing action plans for the installation of Public Charging Stations for nine major cities having million plus population (Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Surat, and Pune).

A scenario wise targets have been prepared for Business as Usual (BAU), Moderate and Aggressive Scenarios for installation of Chargers in these cities so far. These targets have been prepared based on the requirements under the Guidelines and Standards issued by the Ministry of Power, Electric Vehicles (EV) growth projections in these cities, Growth in EV charging demand etc.

As per the initial estimates, a total of 3,263 chargers under BAU scenario, 23,524 chargers under moderate scenario and 46,397 under Aggressive scenario are being targeted for installation of PCS in these cities by 2030.

Network Service Providers

Public Charging Station will be required to tie up up with at least one online Network Service Providers (NSPs) to enable advance remote/online booking of charging slots by EV owners. Such online information to EV owners should also include information regarding location, types and numbers of chargers installed/available, service charges for EV charging etc.

Location of Public Charging Stations

To alleviate the range anxiety of the potential EV owners, guidelines provides that at least one Charging Station shall be available in a grid of 3 Km x 3 Km. Further, one Charging Station will be set up at every 25 Km on both sides of highways/roads.

For long range EVs or heavy duty EVs like buses and trucks etc., there will be at least one Fast Charging Station with Charging Infrastructure Specifications every 100 Km, one on each side of the highways/road located preferably within or alongside the Public Charging Stations

Rollout of EV Public Charging Infrastructure

A phase wise installation has been envisaged under the guidelines as below:

Phase I (1-3 Years): All Mega Cities with population of 4 million plus as per census 2011, all existing expressways connected to these Mega Cities and important highways connected with each of these mega cities may be taken up for coverage.

Phase II (3-5 Years): big cities like state capitals, UT headquarters may also be covered for distributed and demonstrative effect. Further, important Highways connected with each of these mega cities may be taken up for coverage.

Central Nodal Agency

Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) will be the central nodal agency for rollout of EV Public Charging Infrastructure.

All relevant agencies including Central Electricity Authority (CEA) will provide necessary support to Central Nodal Agency.

Every State Government will nominate a Nodal Agency for that state for setting up charging infrastructure. The state DISCOM will generally be the Nodal Agency for such purposes.

However, State Government will be free to select a Central or State Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) including Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), Urban or Area Development Authorities etc. as its Nodal Agency.

These Guidelines and Standards will supersede the Revised “Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles – Guidelines and Standards” issued by Ministry of Power on 1 October 2019 and subsequent amendments, the ministry said.