EV charging station business may require up to Rs 1.05 lakh crore investment by 2032: Report

Electric vehicle (EV) charging station business may require an investment to the tune of Rs 1.05 lakh crore by 2032 as the country is expected to need 2.30 lakh such facilities during this period, a report said on Wednesday.

This massive investment will be required to cater to the growing demand for EVs, which is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 39 per cent, and the resultant requirement of power, credit ratings agency India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said in its report.

It also said that commercial EV charging stations are expected to be a major contributing factor in the penetration of these vehicles.

Ind-Ra also believes EV penetration for the overall automobile industry would reach 40 per cent by FY32 from about 4 per cent this fiscal.

According to the report, government's incentive schemes such as the FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles) and PLI (Production Linked Incentive) schemes for advanced chemistry cells, as well as its focus on expanding the footprint of the electric charging infrastructure along with sustained increase in the petrol and diesel prices could lead to secular growth in the demand for EVs.

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India would require around 63,000 charging stations and cumulative investments of Rs 269 billion (Rs 26,900 crore) for setting up the charging stations over the next five years to cater to the growing demand for power for operating EVs.

In the next decade, in line with the growth in the EV sales, the agency believes the country could need 0.23 million charging stations, entailing a total investment of Rs 1.05 trillion by FY32, it said.

To estimate the number of charging stations that need to be set up and the investment required for the same, Ind-Ra has assessed the total power requirement, using its internal estimates of the EV sales for next 10 years and proportion of EV owners across vehicles, who would need access to charging stations, it noted.

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Several corporate and foreign players have started undertaking capital expenditure to set up charging infrastructure to capture a share of this growing market, it added.

Citing government data, Ind-Ra said that there were about 1,000 commercial charging stations in the country in the financial year that ended on March 31, 2022.

The proliferation of charging stations in India would lead to the growth of charging station manufacturers as well as charging station operators (CSO), it stated.