Updated guidelines for charging infrastructure released by ministry of power

The updated consolidated Guidelines & Standards for charging infrastructure were released by the Ministry of Power on January 14, 2022. The following are the key elements that the guidelines and standards outline:

• Tariff for supply of electricity for Public Charging Station (PCS) shall be a single part tariff and shall not exceed “Average Cost of Supply” till 31st March, 2025.
• DISCOMs may leverage on funding from the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) under “Part A – Distribution Infrastructure” for the general upstream network augmentation necessitated due to the upcoming charging infrastructure in various areas. The cost of such works carried out by the DISCOMs with the financial assistance from Government of India under Revamped Scheme shall not be charged from the consumers for Public Charging Stations for EVs.
• Housing Societies, Malls, Office Complexes, Restaurants, Hotels, etc. are allowed to install PCS for charging of vehicles including charging of visitor’s vehicles permitted to come in its premises.
• Charging stations meant for 100% in-house/captive utilization are free to choose charging specifications as per requirement.
• DISCOMs have been directed to provide electricity connection to PCS in accordance with the timelines specified in the “Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules 2020”.
• The connection for a PCS shall be provided within 7 days in metro cities, 15 days in other municipal areas and 30 days in rural areas. Appropriate Commission may specify a lesser time limit than the aforementioned limit.
• Any PCS/chain of charging station may also obtain electricity from any generation company through open access. Open access shall be provided within 15 days for this purpose.
• Guidelines also include the details of requirements of Public Charging Infrastructure (PCI), PCI for long range EVs and/or heavy duty EVs, Location of PCS, Database of Public EV charging stations, Tariff for supply of electricity to EV PCS and service charge at PCS.
• Land available with Government/Public entities shall be provided to 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, initially for a period of 10 years.

For eight cities with a population of at least 4 million, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has created action plans and delivered them to the relevant State Governments (Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Surat and Pune).

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For the installation of charging stations in these eight cities thus far, scenario-based targets have been prepared under the Action Plans for Business as Usual (BAU), Moderate, and Aggressive Scenarios.

Certain goals were created in accordance with the guidelines and standards set forth by the ministry of power, as well as estimates for the increase of electric vehicle (EV) use in these cities and the demand for EV charging stations, among other factors.

According to preliminary projections, the installation of PCS in these cities by 2030 is planned to include 3263 chargers under the BAU scenario, 23,524 chargers under the moderate scenario, and 46,397 chargers under the aggressive scenario.