EV Motors India launched its first "PlugNGo" electric vehicle charging outlet in the country recently, in association with Delta Electronics, ABB and DLF.

Located in Gurugram, the outlet consists of three charging stations – two DC fast chargers and one AC normal charger, with output ratings of 15kW and 3.68kW, respectively. Both use the GB/T Chinese charging standard. The former can charge a 15kWh battery pack in as little as an hour, while the latter will take about six-seven hours to accomplish the same task. 

The charging outlet is open for public use and can be located through the "PlugNGo" app available on Android and iOS platforms. Electric vehicle owners can use the service for topping up their batteries free of cost till March 2019.

Talking about the capital expenditure involved and the future plans of the company, Vinit Bansal, Managing Director, EV Motors India, said, “The cost of each outlet depends on the number of charging stations installed within it and can vary between Rs 7 lakh and Rs 50 lakh. We plan to set up 20 charging outlets in Delhi-NCR over the course of the next 12 months. We are ultimately aiming at introducing 6,500 such outlets across 15 Indian cities in a period of five years, with a total investment of USD 200 million (about Rs 1,400 crore).”

The EV Motors India start-up was founded in 2016 and is trying to expand the EV charging infrastructure in the country through a technical partnership with Delta and ABB. Delta Electronics, a multinational corporation headquartered in Taiwan, specialises in the field of power electronics. ABB is a Swiss engineering giant in the heavy electrical equipment sector that is better known among motor racing enthusiasts as the title sponsor of Formula E.

Of late, there has been an increase in concerted efforts to strengthen the charging infrastructure in India, which is nowhere near as robust as it is in other countries around the world. To put things into perspective, as of 2016, the United States, Japan and China were already home to almost 42,000, 40,000 and 1,50,000 charging stations, respectively.

The paucity of charging options across the country, in addition to other factors like lower range and higher cost of EVs vis-a-vis their combustion engine counterparts, is dampening the spirits of the Indian car buyer towards electric vehicles. According to the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), sales of electric cars declined by 40 percent in the previous fiscal year. The establishment of a widespread charging infrastructure could play a significant role in combating this negative growth by building consumer confidence in EVs.