The future of public charging depends on automakers taking a greater stake in the country’s charging infrastructure—potentially paving the way for deeper collaborations in the future.
26 Feb 2025 | 3970 Views | By Prerna Lidhoo
By 2030, India could have as many as 50 million electric vehicles (EVs) on its roads. But to keep them moving, the country would need around 1.32 million charging stations—an ambitious goal that translates to installing nearly 400,000 chargers every year, if a recent report by Forvis Mazars is to ...
This is an Autocar Pro Plus article. Subscribe to continue reading.
By 2030, India could have as many as 50 million electric vehicles (EVs) on its roads. But to keep them moving, the country would need around 1.32 million charging stations—an ambitious goal that translates to installing nearly 400,000 chargers every year, if a recent report by Forvis Mazars is to be believed. The cost of setting up this vast network could range anywhere between ₹17,000 crore and ₹1.95 lakh crore (for fast chargers).
For India’s fragmented charging industry, this isn’t just a daunting challenge—it’s an impossible one without deeper involvement and collaboration from automakers. Speak to any of the 20-plus charge point operators (CPOs) operating in the country today, and they’ll tell you the same thing: without OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) stepping up and taking a bigger stake in the charging ecosystem, India’s EV future could be running on empty. But what’s keeping them from having more skin in India’s charging infrastructure game?
Despite India’s ambitious push for EVs, the country’s charging infrastructure remains woefully inadequate. While government initiatives aim to expand the network, automakers have been hesitant to invest heavily in charging stations. Concerns over high costs, uncertain returns, and a fragmented regulatory landscape have kept them on the sidelines. As a result, the growth of India’s EV ecosystem is at risk of stalling if this very important piece of the puzzle isn't solved.
According to India’s largest EV carmaker Tata Motors, one of the biggest pain points of customers is the hassle of installing multiple apps for different CPOs–something that Open Collaboration 2.0 aims to address by offering Tata.ev customers seamless access to a majority of CPOs through a single platform.
“Should all OEMs collaborate for better utilisation? The utilisation problem is solved if everybody allows everyone to charge. For us, it’s important that adoption grows. Can there be more symbiotic and bigger impact by OEMs coming together? Technically, yes,” Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility said.
But practically, he adds, it’s a very difficult thing to coordinate. Chandra acknowledges that industry-wide collaboration isn’t unprecedented but believes it requires careful consideration. “It’s not that this hasn’t happened in other industries. At this stage, we need to reflect further and assess its merit for all players involved. If OEMs open up the space to others, I see only a marginal benefit at this point. Many players have just entered this segment and haven’t fully thought it through. But there is value in the idea,” he says.
Global Charging Play
Globally, automakers have recognised the need to invest in charging infrastructure, leading to major collaborations. In North America, seven of the world’s leading automakers—BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis—have joined forces to form IONNA, a high-powered EV charging network. With regulatory approvals secured, IONNA is now officially operational and aims to deploy at least 30,000 chargers, making it one of the most accessible and reliable networks in the region.
Similarly, Electrify America, originally launched as a Volkswagen initiative, has since attracted investment from other major players, including Kia, Hyundai, and Mercedes-Benz, expanding its reach across the U.S. and beyond. In Europe, South Korea and Japan, too, automakers have formed strategic alliances to accelerate charging infrastructure growth, recognizing that widespread EV adoption hinges on a robust and accessible charging network.
Auto OEMs need to reassure hesitant buyers about charging availability, while CPOs rely on a growing EV fleet to maintain business viability. It’s a classic chicken-and-egg dilemma—without widespread charging infrastructure, EV adoption lags, but without more EVs on the road, charging networks struggle to expand. In India, automakers like MG Motor, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, etc. are talking of expanding infrastructure by tying up with existing CPOs and communicating their accessibility to customers. In contrast, collaboration abroad is more direct—automakers join forces to invest in CPOs, often holding equity stakes to accelerate infrastructure development.
“For some reason, Indian auto OEMs have been reluctant to openly invest into CPOs. Most of them seem to be not empowered to take that decision. Investment decisions are mostly driven by headquarters for global players. But even Tata and Mahindra have not been able to do it so far. We can use a lot of capital to proliferate charging infrastructure since the cost of setting it up goes into billions of dollars. That can only be done with direct equity participation into CPOs,” Karthikeyan Palanisamy, Co-Founder & CEO at Zeon Charging said. CPOs feel that industry collaboration–like it happens globally–is inevitable. “Even if OEMs put in 5% of their total EV investment into charging infrastructure, that will be enough to solve the challenge for 20-30% EV penetration,” he adds.
Kumar Rakesh, Associate Director, Equity Research, BNP Paribas feels that if OEMs own the charging networks, it will push through the adoption in a very quick manner. “The question comes down to the capital allocation strategy of the companies. Initially, the capacity utilization is quite low and hence the returns are low. They have to keep their capital allocation plans in mind, especially if it’s a listed company,” he said.
Experts say that it can be a faster and more efficient way of achieving adoption if companies start setting up their own charging network. “For more EV volumes, you need more charging infrastructure. For the last few years, we’ve seen that EV sales are not taking the lead, hence charging networks will have to take the lead,” Rakesh said.
He expects the rise of aggregators in the industry going forward till the time OEM collaboration becomes a norm. “FY26 should be an inflection year because of the new launches but it would still not be a meaningful acceleration till the time more fast chargers are set up. Setting up fast chargers is more expensive and that’s why we haven’t seen any material pickup in EV volumes. Penetration has been largely stuck between 1.5-2%.
That has been one of the bottlenecks in making that incremental investment. But with mainstream companies now starting to launch their EVs, the volume should pick up and that should incentivize companies to start putting in a fast charging network and that should elevate the range anxiety,” he adds.
The next phase of EV adoption will be all about convincing the “fence-sitters” to make the switch—a shift that paves the way for deeper collaborations within the industry to achieve India’s 30% electrification target by 2030.