Good news! Electric Vehicle charging guidelines revised for EV owners; Charging station to come at every 3 Km in cities

Giving a boost to Electric Vehicles in country, the government has decided to provide at least one Charging Station to be available in a grid of 3 Km x 3 Km in the cities and one Charging Station at every 25 Km on both sides of highways/roads, according to revised Electric Vehicle charging guidelines. All mega cities and expressways connected to these Mega Cities to be taken up for coverage in first phase, other big cities to be taken up in second phase, said the guidelines. 

Union Minister of State for Power and New & Renewable Energy (IC) and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, RK Singh, has approved amendments in Electric Vehicle Charging Guidelines and Specifications, and these revised guidelines and specifications for charging infrastructure shall supersede the earlier guidelines and standards issued by the Ministry of Power on December 14, 2018, according to the official statement.

Speaking about the decision, Power Minister RK Singh said that revised guidelines are more consumer friendly as they incorporate a number of suggestions received from various stakeholders, adding “We have tried to address the concerns of EV owners in new guidelines” and expressed hope that revised guidelines will encourage faster adoption of EVs in India.

To facilitate Electric Vehicle owners, the government has decided to a phase-wise installation of an appropriate network of Charging Infrastructure throughout the country. The guidelines would ensure that at least one Charging Station should be available in a grid of 3 Km X 3 Km in the cities and one Charging Station at every 25 Km on both sides of highways/roads. It has been envisaged that in the first phase (i.e. 1-3 years) all Mega Cities with 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, while in the second phase (3-5 years) big cities like State Capitals, UT headquarters may be covered for distributed and demonstrative effect, said the statement. 

Further, important Highways connected with each of these Mega Cities may also be taken up for coverage. To address the concerns in inter-city travel and long range and/or heavy duty EVs it has been provided that Fast Charging Station for long range and/or heavy duty EVs like buses/trucks etc., shall be installed at every 100 Kms, shall be installed one on each side of the highways/road located preferably within/alongside the Public Charging Station (PCS) mentioned above, it added.

According to revised guidelines, the above density/distance requirements shall be used by the concerned state/UT Governments/their Agencies for the land use planning for public charging stations as well as for priority in installation of distribution network including transformers/feeders etc by the DISCOMs. This shall be done in all cases including where no central/state subsidy is provided.

Assuming that most of the charging of EVs would take place at homes or at offices where the decision of using Fast or Slow chargers would rest on the consumers, it has been clarified in the guidelines that private charging at residences/offices shall be permitted and DISCOMs may facilitate the same, it said.

As far as the Public Charging Stations (PCS) are concerned, it has already been clarified by Ministry of Power that setting up of PCS shall be a de-licensed activity and any individual/entity is free to set up public charging stations, which has also been reiterated in the guidelines, subject to the conditions as specified in the Guidelines. 

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Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), a statutory body under Ministry of Power has been nominated as the Central Nodal Agency.

Notably, the tariff to be charged, from Public Charging Stations as well as from domestic consumers for domestic charging, by the DISCOMs and the Service Charges to be charged by these PCS from EV users have also been covered in the guidelines.