[wheelguy]

According to the industry estimates, there are around 69,000 petrol pumps in the country. The EV charging facility at all petrol pumps could boost e-mobility in a big way as lack of such infrastructure discourages people from buying EVs.

The government is mulling setting up at least one electric vehicle (EV) charging kiosk each at nearly 69,000 petrol pumps across the country to induce people to go for electric mobility. Besides, the government is also thinking of making it compulsory to install EV charging kiosks at all Company-Owned, Company-Operated (COCO) petrol pumps of state refiners.

In a review meeting on EV charging infrastructure, Power Minister R K Singh suggested oil ministry top officials that "they may issue an order for their oil marketing companies (OMCs) under their administrative control for setting up charging kiosks at all COCO petrol pumps", a source said.

Other franchisee petrol pump operators may also be advised to have at least one charging kiosk at their fuel stations, the source said adding this will help achieve "EV charging facility at all petrol pumps in the country".

Under the new guidelines of the oil ministry, new petrol pumps must have an option of one alternative fuel.

"Most of the new petrol pumps are opting for electric vehicle charging facility under alternative fuel option. But it will make huge difference when the existing petrol pumps would also install EV charging kiosks," the source said.

According to the industry estimates, there are around 69,000 petrol pumps in the country. The EV charging facility at all petrol pumps could boost e-mobility in a big way as lack of such infrastructure discourages people from buying EVs.

The power ministry has also chalked out a plan to focus on Delhi National Capital Region, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Vadodara and Bhopal for creating EV charging infrastructure in cities as well as on highways to encourage people to switch over to electric mobility.

The source said, "The minister is of the view that putting up two or three charging stations in any city would be a waste of funds. Besides, the central government is looking at complete electrification of public transport in Delhi, which can later be followed in other cities."

Earlier in July, the power ministry banned the import of equipment (power) from prior reference nations (China and Pakistan).

Source

[Raul258]

Positive move by the govt. But Indian petrol bunks are already too crowded for gas powered vehicles and charging an EV for hours would only add to their woes. I personally would be comfortable to buy an EV if there are dedicated charging stations atleast 200km apart in all major highways. We are still leagues behind major economies in EV infrastructure. But if the range anxiety is addressed by adding more charging stations, Indian EV market is set to a boom very soon.

[yajaman99]

I am targeting getting an EV (MG ZS EV) so this is a good move in my books if done correctly. They need to make a smart move and have these units installed first at the stations across the highways. They should be fast chargers. Having them in the city first wont make sense as owners would be charging at home.
The fuel stations I have seen on the highways are generally quite large and could easily handle the space for a few EVs.

[Mynameis]

I think its a very good move to install at least one station at each petrol pump. In next 5 years, assuming sales of EVs will not increase much, one charging station should suffice.

Most important thing is how much time, from now, will it take to install the stations at the pumps. They should also consider the sale growth rate of EVs. It should not be the case that they are stuck with just one charging station at the petrol pump, even when sightings of EVs on roads is not an uncommon affair anymore. Then it would be very inconvenient, considering each car will spend atleast an hour at the charging station.

If one can have only single car, days are still very far when that car can be an EV. At the very least, a decade, or even more.

[Dry Ice]

May look good on the paper. But the devil is in the details. The biggest problem would be maintaining these "stations" when there are no cars to use them for days on end. What incentive would the pumps have to keep these stations in working order, say, free of cobwebs etc.?

[NaXal]

We were supposed to be complete EV country by 2021 as per 2014 vission. Then that date got shifted to 2025 & then further back to 2035 & presently its "sometime" in distant future.

Govt tried to push themselves into EV via that massive 10k EV purchase episode but no individual in Govt wanted to use those for range & charging time issue.

Govt now wants to install charging station but I am sorry, which standard?

TATA EV fast charging?
Tesla EV fast charging?
Mahindra EV fast Charging?
And so on..

Shouldn't they first try to fix existing hurdles? Govt offices don't have any space issue so why don't they first start from there by encouraging their own people to make this EESL program a success.

Checking tyre pressure for a two wheeler takes around 2-3 mins. Where as four wheeler may take 5-6 mins. Even with that short waiting, a single tyre pressure checking machine per fuel station makes long queue of vehicles.

I wonder how long a queue for EV charging would be if one is kept on charge for 3/4 hours. Is it even practical for second person to wait in queue? There are less than 300 petrol pumps in entire greater Kolkata city limit.

Last of all, what's the point of going EV when more than 71% of our electric grid is powered by fossil fuel? Additional demand will inevitably increase pollution from that end.

I don't want to convey negative thoughts, rather I wish we take steps towards actually benefiting options.

Thanks.

[sandeepmohan]

This is great. As already mentioned, ideally, a super or rapid charger should be the way to go. You don't want a vehicle to stay plugged in for over an hour with a standard wall outlet. Ideally; you want to be back on the road with a 20- 30 minute top up charge.

The EV landscape maybe small in India to start, with options that are out of reach for most. However; I can totally see a market that is price sensitive that take up EV conversions, as it is cheaper than filling gas and you take out the vehicle maintenance aspect with an EV.

[sri_tesla]

Originally Posted by NaXal

We were supposed to be complete EV country by 2021 as per 2014 vission. Then that date got shifted to 2025 & then further back to 2035 & presently its "sometime" in distant future.

I don't remember reading anything about making India an EV country by 2021 as per 2014 vision. Plase share if there is any official info on this.

Originally Posted by NaXal

Govt now wants to install charging station but I am sorry, which standard?

TATA EV fast charging?
Tesla EV fast charging?
Mahindra EV fast Charging?
And so on..

There is no Tata EV or Mahindra EV charging standards. There are only 2 major standards in the world for EVs, namely CCS and Chademo. Govt directed fast charging equipment to support these standards. Also, most of the chargers will have 1 gun for each of the standards. So, there is no additional equipment or adoptors required to charge.

Tesla fast chargers are exclusive for their cars and there is no involvement from govts. Also, Tesla supports CCS standard in Europe and provide adopters for the same. So, Tesla owners can charge at third party stations. They will probably do the same for India as and when they launch here.

Originally Posted by NaXal

Checking tyre pressure for a two wheeler takes around 2-3 mins. Where as four wheeler may take 5-6 mins. Even with that short waiting, a single tyre pressure checking machine per fuel station makes long queue of vehicles.

I wonder how long a queue for EV charging would be if one is kept on charge for 3/4 hours. Is it even practical for second person to wait in queue? There are less than 300 petrol pumps in entire greater Kolkata city limit.

EV adoption (or any other new technology adoption for that matter) is not going to wait for all the issues related to be resolved completely. People who have option to install their houses or apartment parking will be the first customers. If you are depending on fast chargers installed at petrol bunks in cities for your daily usage then its not gonna work for the foreseeable future.

Fast chargers are required on highways to make intercity travel possible. With Nexon, 300+ km travel possible with single stop while Kona can go 600 km with single stop.

Charging infra won't precede the EV sales. EV sales will drive the charging infra. We need more affordable options with decent rage to drive the EV adoption. Nexon EV already has done that. Altroz EV and HBX EV will make EVs even more affordable.

Originally Posted by NaXal

Last of all, what's the point of going EV when more than 71% of our electric grid is powered by fossil fuel? Additional demand will inevitably increase pollution from that end.

EVs are cleaner even when running exclusively on coal based power. In India, additional energy generation is mainly coming from renewable energy (solar and wind). So additional demand will be met by renewable energy rather than from coal based or gas based power plants. Its driven by economics. Currently, new renewable energy is much cheaper than new coal power plant construction and maintenance. Each year, plant load factor of coal based plants is going down due to additional power generation from wind and solar.

[rajivr1612]

According to me, all EVs should have standardized removable battery pack. At the charging stations, the discharged ones should be replaced with charged ones. This will be similar to the domestic LPG cylinder system. This will reduce turnaround time.
Experts please chip in.

[msdivy]

Govt mulls installing EV charging kiosks at around 69,000 petrol pumps in country

What is mulling? Is Govt looking for feedback? They must talk to auto makers and share the design.

Originally Posted by rajivr1612

According to me, all EVs should have standardized removable battery pack. At the charging stations, the discharged ones should be replaced with charged ones. This will be similar to the domestic LPG cylinder system. This will reduce turnaround time.
Experts please chip in.

Can't really say with certainty on how the charging will evolve. The options are,
1) Removal battery - this requires battery standardization across makers
2) Common charger + custom fast charging unit (the current mechanism)

Battery is the engine of an EV. It will be a closely guarded secret. Moreover, every car will have a different battery design and it will be welded to the chassis, considering its weight. So swapping across makers or even models within a maker might not feasible.

I think the current model will continue, which is,
* Common charger for slow & medium charging
* Custom charger for fast charging (for which the maker can charge a premium).

[srini1785]

Not adequate and definitely not worth it. What needs to be understood is that unlike fuel, charge is available everywhere and all you need is this :




When you want to travel long distance , carry a long pole.

As such we loose a lot of power due to power theft and its only a matter of time before such Jugaad pole make it to (black) market. I have see our Bescom linesmen with a proper engineered poles for their work. Whats more dangerous is that when such a theft happens in large scale, it can cause disruption of the general distribution system which ,by all accounts, is already fragile.

So i feel, its necessary to first plug loop holes before going all electric. The problem , IMO, can be solved by using a higher charging voltage than the one on the line. After a few burnt fuses and possibly at the cost of few lives, the general public would learn. That's the way it is.

As other members have pointed out, we need swapable battery system like LPG cylinders is needed with protection against theft.

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by wheelguy

According to the industry estimates, there are around 69,000 petrol pumps in the country.

If we want to build a wide network of charging facilities over time, the following outlets can serve as charging points for EVs :

1. Fuel stations

2. Restaurants on highways

3. Garages

4. Tyre stores

5. Shopping centers

6. Tourist destinations

Needless to mention, these charging points will charge for units consumed at pre-approved rates with a nominal service charge.

The network will operate the way PUC centers operate( not by the values that they report but in the way they are set up).

Setting up charging points at random isolated locations like in Netherlands won't work in the Indian context where someone will make away with them overnight.

[Worldchamp 2019]

Waiting time seems to be the main issue here. I for one would not want to wait for 2 hours in an unpleasant and unkept petrol pump. Battery or charging technology has to be much more advanced for ev's to become feasible in the real world. Looking at the patience level of indian drivers on the road do we really think one would wait for hours to charge a vehicle. In my view even 15 minutes is a long time to "refuel" your car.

[pganapathy]

Originally Posted by rajivr1612

According to me, all EVs should have standardized removable battery pack. At the charging stations, the discharged ones should be replaced with charged ones. This will be similar to the domestic LPG cylinder system. This will reduce turnaround time.
Experts please chip in.

Very difficult to do in practice. Unless the design is in place, most EV's have 'in-built' batteries. Over time, once EV's are essentially about assembling a vehicle with commodity parts, like cell phones are today, will this idea be practical.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by rajivr1612

According to me, all EVs should have standardized removable battery pack. At the charging stations, the discharged ones should be replaced with charged ones. This will be similar to the domestic LPG cylinder system. This will reduce turnaround time.
Experts please chip in.

Two potential problems to be addressed...
1. Batteries are to be standardized across all vehicles in terms size, power, energy storage, capacity, charging cycle. Like AA, AAA etc
2. Let's say the battery withstands 1000 recharge cycles, I've a battery that's 100 times recharged, I can conveniently exchange for a 10 times recharged battery at EV station. Never having to buy a new one