Infrastructure woes for EVs in India

Be it global launches of Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt or the local player Mahindra and Mahindra that now controls electric vehicle maker Reva – the question raised by almost every electric car marker is that of adequate infrastructure to support their products.

Especially in India infrastructure woes are very serious and hampering the growth of the electric vehicle segment of the country. CEO of carmaker Fiat, Rajeev Kapoor, was quoted in a press report saying that we need to invest more in infrastructure before launching electric cars in the country.

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The electric cars need charging stations and the grids need to be able to cope with the extra pressure of cars charging. To be able to make a switch to electric vehicles or even encourage the trend the Government has to do develop the infrastructure.

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The recent launch to the electric car list is the new Reva i by Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles launched with a pric tag of about Rs 3.10 lakh. The company has a target to triple its sales in 12-18 months and take the figure to 3,600 units.

Other carmakers like the US car-maker General Motors, Toyota etc have all got the same concern of bad infrastructure as hinderance to new product launches.

According to GM India’s vice-president, P Balendran in a news report, “The Government has to come out with a new policy for electric vehicles so that car-makers will be able to reduce their prices and also launch more models. It is a pity that when auto-majors gearing-up to launch electric vehicles in India, the infrastructure is still inadequate to support it.”

General Motors has its much talked about Chevrolet Volt in the electric car segment. But the question arises if we have adequate infrastructure for the same.

According to Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles’ chief operating officer, R Chandramouli there is a need for public infrastructure for charging the vehicle’s battery. The company is setting up local charging points in the cities to solve the problem in tie up with an Anil Ambani Group company, BSES, in Delhi to use its charging ports.