India’s electric vehicle revolution is unfolding at remarkable speed. EV two-wheelers and three-wheelers have become everyday realities, and more than 5,000 electric buses already operate across cities. With tenders for 40,000 additional e-buses underway, the country is set to build one of the world’s largest electric public-transport fleets. In 2024, India added over 20 lakh EVs, and 2025 is tracking even higher.
This scale has an equally large energy footprint. The upcoming e-bus network alone will draw tens of millions of units of electricity each day, delivered through high-capacity fast chargers—240 kW, 360 kW and beyond—spread across depots, highways and urban hubs. Every unit must travel from generation centres, through a diverse and ageing grid, before reaching a charger that must perform flawlessly in India’s heat, dust and voltage fluctuations.
This is where the real test lies. Studies indicate significant downtime across public chargers, and while estimates vary, the core issue is clear: too many chargers fail when they are needed most. In a country attempting one of the world’s largest mobility transitions, such reliability gaps are not minor irritants—they are existential threats to adoption. For individuals, fleets and freight alike, unreliable charging threatens operations. Hence, building a dependable ecosystem isn’t optional; it underpins India’s electric mobility future.
Why Imported Systems Fail in Indian Conditions
Much of the world’s charging technology has been designed for climates, grid behaviours and usage patterns very different from India’s. When directly imported and deployed here, these systems often struggle—sometimes severely.
India’s temperatures can exceed 50°C in peak summer. Most global charging systems, built for temperate climates, begin derating—intentionally reducing power output—as temperatures rise, burn up or at a minimum shut down altogether to prevent damage. In India’s heat, this means long queues, intermittent failures and chargers going offline at the very moment when demand is highest.
Grid behaviour poses an equally significant challenge. India’s electrical infrastructure has evolved over decades, with variations in transformer age, voltage stability and local grid resilience. Sudden voltage drops, fluctuations or harmonics—common in many parts of the country—can trigger faults in chargers not engineered for such variability. The result is burnt components, frequent outages and long repair cycles.
Dust, humidity, coastal corrosion and unpredictable monsoon conditions add further layers of complexity. A charger installed in Jaipur faces very different stresses from one installed in Kochi or Gangtok. In short, India’s climate and grid conditions demand engineering that is specifically built for them—not retrofitted after failure.
Why We Must Build the Charging Backbone with India first Technology
Localised engineering is not merely a patriotic aspiration; it is a strategic imperative. When chargers are designed, tested and manufactured in India, they can be built to withstand higher ambient temperatures, wider voltage swings, more abrasive dust conditions and the unique usage cycles of Indian consumers and commercial fleets. Indigenous development also allows for smarter thermal management, modular repair-friendly designs and quick firmware updates that evolve with vehicle standards. For example Silicon Carbide Mosfet based chargers are known to be way more resilient to heat than typical IGBT based systems.
Equally important is serviceability. Imported systems often require specialised components, long lead times or overseas technical support. Locally engineered systems can be serviced quickly and cost-effectively, with readily available spares and teams trained on the specific hardware. This drastically reduces downtime—a critical requirement for high-utilisation commercial charging hubs.
India also has an advantage that few countries possess: an exceptionally robust digital infrastructure. Our payments stack, connectivity, mapping systems and real-time data frameworks can seamlessly integrate with smart chargers to deliver predictive maintenance, remote diagnostics, dynamic load balancing and frictionless user experiences. A made-for-India charging ecosystem can naturally embed these digital strengths.
Planning for a National Infrastructure That Must Last Decades
The next phase of India’s EV growth will be defined by large, interoperable and intelligently managed charging networks. Urban centres will need compact, low-cost AC chargers for homes and workplaces; high-capacity depots capable of charging hundreds of buses simultaneously; and strategically placed fast chargers along national and state highways to support long-distance travel.
Highway electrification, in particular, will shape consumer confidence. A dependable fast-charging station every 40–50 kilometres could eliminate range anxiety entirely and make EV road travel intuitive—even enjoyable. As cities expand their electric bus fleets, 20 MW depot hubs will become central to urban mobility planning. In both cases, reliability—not speed, not price—will be the decisive factor.
India’s push to build domestic deep-tech capabilities in power electronics is timely. The country is at an inflection point: entrepreneurial energy is high, engineering talent is abundant and policy momentum is aligned with self-reliance in critical technologies. This convergence gives India a unique opportunity to build a charging ecosystem that is not only suited to its own needs but sets global benchmarks for resilience at scale.
The Road Ahead
If India succeeds in creating a charging backbone that is reliable, climate-resilient and digitally integrated, the EV transition will accelerate organically. Consumers will trust the ecosystem. Fleet owners will invest without hesitation. Logistics networks will electrify end-to-end. And Indian highways could evolve into some of the most sophisticated EV corridors in the world.
We have already demonstrated, through our world-class digital public infrastructure, what it means to build systems that are open, scalable and globally admired. There is no reason why India cannot replicate this success in EV charging. A decade from now, India has the potential to operate the world’s largest, most dependable and most cost-efficient EV charging infrastructure—one that powers not just vehicles, but the nation’s broader energy transition.
A made-for-India charging infrastructure will define the pace, quality and inclusiveness of our mobility future. This is our moment to get it right. |
