Every Indian EV presentation contains a reassuring map covered in charging-station dots. The dots are usually bright, evenly distributed and entirely free of broken connectors, locked gates or payment failures. Real drivers inhabit another map. On that one, a charger may exist in the database but not behind the security barrier, may communicate with an app but not the car, or may be occupied by a petrol vehicle whose owner has discovered shade.
The government has approved thousands of additional chargers under PM E-Drive. Autocar India’s report on 4,874 approved chargers details the planned expansion and the role of public-sector oil companies. The Ministry of Heavy Industries’ PM E-Drive portal places charging within the broader electric-mobility programme. This is necessary progress. It is not the same as a reliable network.
A charger count is the wrong headline
The useful metric is successful charging sessions. A station with four connectors but two permanently offline should not count as four. A functioning unit inside premises closed at night cannot serve a highway traveller at 2 a.m. A charger delivering far below advertised power may technically work while destroying journey planning. Government dashboards should report uptime, energy delivered and successful sessions by connector.
Operators need service-level obligations in exchange for subsidy or public land. If a charger fails, the repair clock should start automatically through remote monitoring. Persistent underperformance should reduce payments or end contracts. Infrastructure policy has focused on installation because a new unit produces a photograph. Maintenance produces only reliability, which is less photogenic and more valuable.
Location quality matters. Chargers should sit where drivers can wait safely, use a toilet, buy food and access mobile connectivity. They need lighting, weather protection and clear road signage. A technically perfect charger hidden behind a dark warehouse is not public infrastructure. Oil-company forecourts are promising because they already provide visible, staffed locations, but traffic flow and fire-safety design must accommodate longer dwell times.
Power availability is another constraint. Installing high-capacity hardware without adequate grid connection creates an expensive slow charger. Distribution companies must plan upgrades, demand management and tariffs with operators. Solar can contribute, but a small canopy does not magically supply multiple fast chargers continuously. Storage may help at constrained sites, though the economics vary. Honest engineering beats decorative sustainability claims.
Payments should be boring
EV drivers currently juggle apps, wallets and registrations. Each network wants a customer relationship, while the customer wants electrons. India has already demonstrated interoperable digital payments at national scale. Chargers should accept UPI or cards directly, display the price before the session and issue a simple receipt. Requiring an app download at a weak-signal highway stop is indefensible.
Roaming agreements can allow one app to access several networks, but they should not become another opaque layer of fees. Prices need standard units and clear disclosure of parking or idle charges. Idle fees are reasonable at busy sites because a fully charged car blocks access, yet the operator must notify the driver and allow a sensible grace period.
Live status data should be open through a standard interface. Navigation providers and car systems could then show connector type, availability, power and recent reliability. An operator may dislike sharing data with competitors, but public subsidy should purchase public interoperability. Drivers should not discover incompatibility after arriving with five per cent battery.
Customer support needs human beings who can remotely restart units, explain errors and arrange refunds. A chatbot repeating “session unsuccessful” is not support. Operators should publish response times and refund failed pre-authorisations automatically. Trust can be lost over a small payment if recovery requires repeated emails.
Home and workplace charging remain the foundation
Public fast charging receives attention because it resembles a petrol pump. Most private EVs should obtain most energy while parked at home or work, where slower charging is cheaper and gentler on batteries. India’s housing pattern complicates this. Apartment residents may lack assigned parking, resident associations may resist wiring and renters cannot make permanent changes.
Building codes should require EV-ready electrical capacity and cable pathways in new construction. “Ready” does not mean installing a charger in every bay immediately; it means avoiding expensive civil work later. Existing societies need model rules for approvals, metering, fire safety and cost sharing. Local authorities and distribution companies should offer standard diagrams rather than forcing every committee to invent electrical policy.
Workplace charging can serve people without home access and align demand with daytime solar generation. Employers do not need fast chargers for cars parked eight hours. Managed low-power points across more bays may be more useful. Tariffs should encourage smart charging that avoids evening peaks instead of rewarding indiscriminate speed.
Two- and three-wheelers require another model. Their batteries are smaller, daily routes differ and many commercial users cannot wait at car-focused hubs. Swapping may work in controlled fleets where standards and battery ownership are clear. Conventional charging may suit private scooters. Policy should resist forcing one solution across every vehicle class.
The transition must include the difficult routes
Private investment will naturally concentrate where utilisation is high: affluent urban areas and popular highways. Government support should address gaps, including smaller cities, hill routes and strategic intercity corridors. But a lonely charger with no maintenance ecosystem is worse than none because it encourages false confidence. Corridor planning requires redundancy so one failure does not strand drivers.
Heavy vehicles and buses need far greater power, space and grid planning. Depot charging can be predictable, but intercity trucks require megawatt-scale thinking and rest facilities. India should reserve land and grid capacity now rather than trying to squeeze truck chargers into car sites later. Electrifying commercial kilometres may deliver larger fuel and emissions benefits than subsidising another premium urban SUV.
We should also acknowledge that public charging economics are difficult while utilisation remains low. Operators carry land, equipment, grid and maintenance costs before enough EVs arrive. Time-limited support can bridge the gap, provided performance conditions are strict. The alternative—cheap installations followed by neglect—wastes money and undermines adoption.
Carmakers have obligations beyond selling vehicles. They should integrate reliable charger data into navigation, disclose realistic charging curves and support plug-and-charge standards. Peak charging power is a marketing number; the time from ten to eighty per cent under Indian heat is the ownership fact. Cars must also handle failed sessions gracefully rather than displaying cryptic errors.
I remain optimistic about India’s EV transition because the infrastructure discussion has moved from whether chargers are needed to how many will be installed. The next move must be from quantity to quality. Approval numbers are inputs. Uptime, access and successful energy delivery are outcomes.
The showroom rarely mentions any of this. A salesperson quotes range and points to a map. I advise buyers to inspect the routes they actually drive, visit nearby chargers and ask their housing society for written permission before purchase. That homework should become less necessary as the network matures.
India is putting hardware on the ground. Now it needs an operating culture: maintenance contracts, open data, interoperable payments, accountable service and redundancy. The EV transition will not be won by the brightest dot on a presentation. It will be won when a driver arrives late at night, plugs in, pays once and has nothing interesting to report.
