India Needs Better EV-Friendly Infra for Both Public and Private Transport, Say Industry Experts

The government of India has been promoting the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) for the past few years. However, most of the cities in the country lack a proper EV-friendly infrastructure. According to industry experts who gathered at the Mobility Symposium, organized by MoveInSync, a commute solution provider, the frustration among EV buyers is not about the lack of public chargers, but the slow charging process at the public charging points.  

“In India, we have around 180 thousand electric vehicles on the road, and we have around 15 vehicles per charger. If we compare that with the UK, they have 1.2 million vehicles on the road and they have around 17 vehicles per charger (public chargers),” said Rubin Pather, Chief Operating Officer, Jio-bp pulse, a Reliance-owned company for EV charging stations.  

Currently, EVs are usually the secondary vehicles for most of the owners. Most of them have an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicle for daily use. Two major factors that prohibit the mass penetration of the EVs are its high pricing and secondly, the lack of infrastructural support.  

While talking at the event, several other industry leaders like RK Misra, president of, the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles and co-founder of Yulu Bikes, and Mohandas Pai, former CFO and Board Member at Infosys highlighted how the central government and the state government need to focus on better financing for the EV friendly infrastructure in India. According to Misra, “It is a chicken-and-egg situation. When the demand becomes high, the prices will also come down.”  

While the situation is still gloomy for the EV owners, it is not much different for the public transport. There is still no foolproof plan to have EV buses as the main mode of public transport. For major metropolitan cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, and Delhi, one of the major hassles for commuters is the pollution happening from vehicles. While replacing the state buses run on fuel with EV buses could be a way to minimise the hassle, implementing the same is still not feasible due to the lack of cost-effectiveness.  

“EV Buses are not becoming popular because of the cost as they are 2.5 times the price of the normal buses. If a commuter has to pay such high prices (for the tickets), it is difficult,” said Deepesh Agarwal, CEO, of MoveInSync.