Electric Vehicle Owners Can Now Use Existing Connections At Home, Office For Charging

The government has come out with revised guidelines and standards for charging infrastructure for electric vehicles that allows owners to use their existing power connections at home and offices for charging their vehicles, Union Ministry of Power said on Saturday.

"In a significant step, owners may charge their electric vehicles at their residence/offices using their existing electricity connections. Infrastructure requirements for Public Charging Infrastructure as well as for Public Charging Infrastructure for long-range EVs and/or heavy duty EVs have been outlined," the ministry said in a statement.

The Union Ministry of Power promulgated the revised consolidated Guidelines & Standards for Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles (EV) on January 14, 2022.

Under the revised guideline, 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 as well as norms/ standards/ specifications laid down by Ministry of Power, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) and Central Electricity Authority (CEA) from time to time.

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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.

"The objective is to enable faster adoption of electric vehicles in India by ensuring safe, reliable, accessible and affordable charging infrastructure and eco-system. This would also promote energy security and reduction of emission intensity of the country by promotion of entire EV ecosystem," the ministry said.

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.

In order to address the challenge of making a charging station financially viable in the period of growth of Electric Vehicles, a revenue-sharing model has been put in place for land used for the same. 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 at a fixed rate of Re 1 / kWh (used for charging) to be paid to the land-owning agency from such PCS business payable on a quarterly basis.

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 a bidding basis with a floor price of Re 1 / kWh.