How green is the EV charging ecosystem?

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, Durgapur, unveiling the E-tractor and E-tiller at Ludhiana on Wednesday, marked another milestone in India’s effort to decarbonise the transport and agriculture sectors. For these innovative eco-friendly agricultural machineries, replacing the traditional diesel-powered tractors and power tillers to make agricultural production sustainable will depend on the robustness of the charging ecosystem. Increasing penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) remains a priority area for India to decarbonise its transport sector. Without adequate charging infrastructure powered by renewable energy, a mere increase in the number of EVs will only lead to more carbon emissions from the burning of coal to produce electricity to cater to additional demand for charging EV batteries. Increasing charging stations in cities, towns and along highways is critical to removing the bottleneck of range anxieties in EV procurement. From a vehicle owner’s perspective, battery swapping can be a preferred alternative to charging stations, as it significantly saves time spent keeping the vehicle plugged in for fully charging the battery. However, the issues of standardisation, damage to batteries, etc., and lack of clear policy continue to pose roadblocks to battery swapping gaining momentum. In the absence of adequate public charging stations, owners of EVs are compelled to charge the batteries at home, more particularly during non-solar hours in the evening and at night. Currently, the EV subsidy scheme is applicable to public transport vehicles and three- and four-wheelers registered for commercial operations, and in the case of private vehicles, only two-wheelers are covered. The subsidy absorbs some amount of the upfront cost, but range anxieties continue to be an issue impacting consumers’ confidence, which explains two-wheelers dominating the EV sector in the country and very low penetration in the four-wheeler segment. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry has recommended that the Ministry of Power should encourage solar hours charging of electric vehicles through advertisements, including regional languages, to minimize the load on electrical systems during non-solar hours and promote establishing charging stations/points at work locations/office buildings/premises with minimum parking facilities to increase the charging network as well as solar hours charging to minimize the load on the electric system. Another recommendation of the parliamentary panel is that the Ministry of Power should also encourage solarization of EV Charging Stations, in coordination with the Ministry of Heavy Industries, by providing subsidies for the installation of EV Charging Stations both in the public and private sectors. Action taken by the government on these recommendations indicates a key policy push to increase the use of renewable energy in EV charging stations and also to disincentivise non-solar hour charging. This includes the Ministry of Power amending its Consolidated Guidelines for Charging Infrastructure for EVs and including the provisions to incentivize the charging of EVs at public charging stations during the solar hour and discourage it in the non-solar hour. Accordingly, the cost of electricity supply by an Electricity Distribution Company (DISCOM) to a public electric vehicle charging station shall be 0.8 times the Average Cost of Supply (ACoS) during solar hours (9 am to 4 pm) and 1.2 times ACoS during the remaining period of the day. The committee’s report also highlights that the ceiling limits of service charges being levied by public electric vehicle charge point operators on the EV customers to recover the cost of servicing the capital investments (excluding GST) made by it in the setting up of public charging stations have been specified as Rs. 2.50 per unit and Rs. 3.50 per unit of electricity used for slow Alternating Current charging of EVs at public charging stations during the solar hours and non-solar hours, respectively. Additionally, a ceiling limit of Rs.10.0 per unit and Rs.12.0 per unit of electricity used has also been specified for direct current fast charging of electric vehicles at public charging stations during the solar and non-solar hours, respectively. The government claims that the “Green Energy Open Access Rules 2022” that incentivises the common consumers to get green power at reasonable rates will also encourage public charge point operators to avail green energy through open access from the grid for charging of EVs. An increase in peak hour demand for electricity on account of an increase in demand for non-solar hour EV charging will only lead to more burning of coal to generate more electricity to avoid a shortfall in peak hour electricity supply. As coal continues to dominate the energy mix in electricity generation to meet peak hour demand during non-solar hours, the efforts must be to encourage EV charging during solar hours and charging stations being powered by renewable energy sources. Making EV charging infrastructure central to policies and schemes aimed at decarbonising the transport sector, therefore, is not just important to address range anxieties but also to ensure that EV adoption does not lead to more carbon emissions to meet electricity demand for charging batteries.