Owners may charge their Electric Vehicles at their residence/offices using their existing electricity connections, the central government said on Saturday while issuing guidelines and standards for charging infrastructure.
“The Centre has promulgated the revised consolidated guidelines, whose objective is to enable faster adoption of electric vehicles in India by ensuring safe, reliable, accessible and affordable charging infrastructure and eco-system,” said the ministry of power.
It said that 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.
As per the new guidelines, any individual/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.
“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,” it said.
Further, it said that in order to address the challenge of making a charging station financially viable in the period of growth of EVs, a revenue-sharing model has been put in place for land used.
“Land available with the Government/Public entities shall be provided for installation of Public Charging Stations to a Government/Public entity on a revenue-sharing basis for the installation of Public Charging Station at a fixed rate of ₹ 1/kWh (used for charging) to be paid to the Land-Owning Agency from such PCS business payable on quarterly basis,” said the government.
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 ₹ 1/kWh,” it said.
In terms of timeline, it said that 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 shall provide a new connection or modify an existing connection.
The tariff for the supply of electricity to public EV charging stations shall be a single part tariff and shall not exceed the “Average Cost of Supply” till 31 March 2025.
“The same tariff shall be applicable for Battery Charging Station (BCS). The tariff applicable for domestic consumption shall be applicable for domestic charging,” the government said.
As electricity is being provided at concessional rates and also considering the fact that subsidy is being provided by the central/state governments in many cases for setting up PCS, the state government shall fix the ceiling of service charges to be charged by such charging stations.
In addition to this, the government also said that the EV Public Charging Infrastructure will be rolled out in a phased manner.
Phase I (one to three years): All Mega Cities with a population of 4 million-plus as per census 2011, all existing expressways connected to these Mega-Cities & important Highways connected with each of these Mega Cities may be taken up for coverage. A list of these Mega Cities and existing connected expressways is prepared
Phase II (three to five 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.
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