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-   -   Is there a business model for EV charging stations (like petrol pumps) in India? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/electric-cars/209365-there-business-model-ev-charging-stations-like-petrol-pumps-india-2.html)

EV vehicles(such as Motorcycles and Autorickshaws or even cars), which, if at all has a feature like quick charge during 30/60 minutes, then restaurants can have complimentary charging points in their parking lots. Customer can search in Maps for the restaurants which have those charging points and thereby helps both the customer and the business.

A better business model would be to install and manage EV points at malls , shopping centers. In fact in California these are already present at major grocery stores such as Albertsons

Yes, it makes more sense to offer it in shopping locations as it will be an incentive for people to spend more time there as they charge up their EVs.

Standalone charging stations may not bring in enough revenue to sustain in long run.

In the US, Target is already offering free charging for Tesla. When you park there, no matter for how long, your Tesla gets her juice. I don't know how they do it, or how it's monetized. If its any other brand of vehicle, they get charged at actuals. No profit there as well!

Just about every petrol station on the motorways in the Netherlands has also an EV charging station as well. Most will charge 15-20 minutes only, good enough for a 60-80% charge these days already. That leaves enough time to make some phone calls, read a newspaper, relax, have a cup of coffee, have lunch.

In many European countries, petrol stations, especially along motorways are massive affairs with lots of facilities, from Starbucks to complete restaurants, book shops etc. sometimes it feels that selling petrol is just a by-product for all the other activities going on in these places.

At the end of the day running an EV charging system from an economic point of view is no different from a petrol station. It is down to scale, ie volume of charges, how much can you charge and what are your cost. Adding other types of businesses to the same premises can make it a lot more attractive financially, but can also attract more customers who also spend more than just a charge.

Jeroen

Sorry, just to add to my previous post. Even thought we see EV charging station going up all over the Netherlands, the actual uptake of them is very low.

Most EV owners will charge at home. Which is probably a reflection of the maturity of the market. People who own EV tend to drive them on relative short trips. So they will charge at home rather than at a EV charging station, no matter what.

It is something to bear in mind. If you are in a market where most EV owners will also own a good enough charging point at home, they are likely not to use EV charging stations around the country. EV usage initially seems to be around town and within the normal range of EV’s,. So as long as you will get home, why bother? This is of course very different from petrol station. You can not have your own petrol station in your front garden, but with EV charging station it is very likely owners would invest in having adequate charging fascilities at home. Which really throws in spanner in the business model for EV charging stations obviously.

Why go the trouble to go to an EV charging station if you can just charge at home, at the most economic rate anyway?

Jeroen

Exactly and let us also not forget the fact that even with the fastest charging speed available, the charge time is going to be between 45 to 60 minutes for a full charge which means the charging slot is occupied for that long. Its a vicious cycle, to make any money you will have to charge extra per unit and have many charging slots but to have many charging slots, you need more land and to get more land, either buying or renting, you need a heck of a lot of more money.

I came across a company who are getting into EV Charging Business aimed both public and private sector. The company is called ChargeInc and is based out of Bengaluru.

There is not much info about the company online (not even a website) they only have an Instagram handle "charge.inc" registered already but i don't see any post on it except a DP of how the charger would look. I did get to see their business model presentation through a friend here in chennai and I was convinced with what they were doing and it definitely seemed profitable.

We Indians will make out money from anywhere! When the EV becomes prevalent offices and Malls will start their own services with 2-3 guys hired and multi charge sockets (I am guessing such thing exists or maybe will) or maybe use a mobile charger and charge the vehicles during the time that are parked over. People wouldn't mind paying few bucks extra for the time saved. That can become a good opportunity as setting up a space and infra in big cities can be a problem but using a existing office/Mall building will be cheaper.

Think we are missing that there would be cabs also which may be running on EVs and with their high running they should be charging at least one time in a day extra (other than the full charging at residence) for which the public grids are a necessity, without which the EVs cannot be easily marketable to commercial segment. I think there is market for such grid business few years down the line.

KK

The market will be due for disruption as it is with every new market nowadays. There will be a filthy rich Venture Capital (or two) who will fund these stations like Uber used to provide free rides. Once a lot of people get used to it, the profiteering starts wayy later. How much later? Let's ask Amazon Retail or Flipkart. Or Prime Video or Netflix. Or Uber or Ola.

The margins are definitely there. Power is not as cheap as Rs.5 per KWH in India. This may be true for residential units consuming up to 300 units a month, that too in rural areas. For a 50 KWH battery, the charging losses can reach as high as 20% which means 60 units will be actually consumed. Add to that the commercial rate of electricity at approx Rs. 12 a unit, a full charge would cost somewhere around ~750 Rs. Still not bad if the car delivers a range of 250 kms which works out to be Rs.3/km. A < 10% margin can be afforded here.

Its just that there are not enough customers to justify such margin which will take lo(oo0o)ng to even cover the cost of infrastructure. So I think when there are enough consumers on electric vehicles, this may actually be feasible, courtesy our so-called market disrupters with their uber-rich VCs.

Following are my thoughts on the topic:

1. Most people will have charging points at home. Electricity used through these charging stations shall have a higher tariff. Similar to domestic vs commercial connection, a separate meter shall be installed.

2. Public parking spaces, malls and office complexes have an advantage here since they already have the real estate and hourly parking fee is already applicable, they can use this as a tool to lure more customers to their premises and later when everyone joins the bandwagon, they can just raise the parking fee.

3. Petrol pumps inside the cities will not have much of a business case since people can charge at homes, malls or public parking spaces.

4. Petrol pumps we see today on the highways will look more like multi-level car parks to get more charging stations in smaller real estate. Money will be made only if they convert themselves to resting stops with restaurants, coffee shops, kids play area and maybe even motels.

MLCPs and Malls in future will use charging facility as an added attraction.
Fuel stations within city limits will begin to have a charging station, just because they can be mandated by the behemoth PSUs.
Office spaces within cities (esp.the ones under SEZ or STPI) will begin to offer charge stations (number of cars idling in their parking area is humongous in volume).
Cities will drive EV four wheeler growth in India but it would be 2W who can pierce the market deep. Shared charging infrastructure in gated communities and apartments can really bring down the capital cost. I recall reading a news article where a power distribution company was contemplating chargers in every street considering the poles and transformer like infrastructure already available.
In a decade or two, charging stations will offer free of cost service, just the way nitrogen filling has come and there will be the peripheral business model of more footfalls.

One thing I can think of is that companies like Panasonic may start public charging facility and use the customers time and contact to try and sell home charging facility infrastructure building services. They can try and sell other services like minimal car service like wheel alignment, balancing, tyre change, bearing inspection, WS washer top-up, waterless wash etc. As many pointed out, selling ancillary services and products along with charging is way to go.

Other EV owners may make short trips, but not Tesla LR owners. It make a great road trip vehicle. True, the need for Quick charge stations is to mainly address range anxiety. With a 500km range on a Tesla Model3, you would think one would not have range anxiety, but I do. Just as you said, I only charge at home because I have solar and electricity is free. But it give me immense peace of mind that there is the Tesla charging network all over the place.

It can be very economical to build Charge points off of highways where the land value will be relatively less than cities. India is closer to the equator, and is blessed with lots of sunlight, so it can very well be a solar powered Charge point.