Whenever you see a vehicle with a green number plate on the roads, understand that it is an electric vehicle. Nowadays electric cars have also started coming in the market. Two-wheelers are already available. Nowadays the number of electric vehicles is also increasing.
EV Charging Market in India
You will find many articles on the demand of electric vehicles in India, their growing market and their popularity among the people. Talking about electric two wheelers, the government as well as the electric two wheeler industry is looking at this as a future solution and it has been estimated that by the financial year 2031, the market size of electric two wheelers will reach 22 million or 2 crore 20 lakh units per year. At the same time, one and a half million or 15 lakh electric cars were sold in 2023. Which was 50 more than in 2022. So just here is hidden a sustainable business model and a golden opportunity to earn money. In this article of ours, you are going to see how to start an electric car charging station business. And I am Akash with you in this journey.
So the thing is that in 2023, the value of India’s electric vehicle charging market was estimated at 588.6 million dollars i.e. about 58 crore 80 lakh dollars and by 2030 it will reach 5695 million dollars.
Licenses and regulations for EV charging stations
So let us now understand how you can earn from this multi-million dollar business model. Generally, a license is required to start any business. But you will be happy to know that no license will be required to do the business of electric vehicle charging station. This was cleared by the Ministry of Energy itself in 2018. So the cost of getting the license is going to be completely saved. However, the charging station owner will have to follow the guidelines given by the Ministry of Power Government of India.
Like any person can set up a public charging station. For that, one can also apply for a separate electric connection. The charging station will have to fulfill the necessary technical requirements. And security arrangements will also have to be made. Many such guidelines have been given. To read them, you can search on Google (guidelines to start an EV charging station). Then you will see the website of the Ministry of Power, where you can read the PDF.
According to the rules made by the Central Government, there should be a charging station at an interval of every 3 km in the city, at an interval of every 100 km for heavy duty vehicles and after every 25 km on highways.
Investments and costs
If we talk about investment, then opening an electric vehicle charging station can cost a minimum of ₹1 lakh to 40 to 50 lakh depending on the power capacity, number of charging points, number of vehicles at a time and franchise. Your investment will mostly depend on the franchise model. Like, it will cost 30 to 40 lakh with Tata Power, 5 to 10 lakh with Delta Electronics India and 8 to 15 lakh with Mastek.
Apart from these, you can also choose brands like Ath Energy, Plug NGO, Excom Power System, Okaya Charge My Gardi and Charge Plus Zone. However, to get clarity on the budget, you can call the companies individually and inquire. Before selecting any franchise, understand the advantages and disadvantages of joining it. So that you do not have to regret your investment. So you will easily find the pros and cons of every company on the internet.
Location selection of EV charging station
After this, when it comes to location, here you should keep in mind that any business can only make profit when its visibility is high. Charging stations can also be opened at shopping malls, parking places, public places, hotels, airports and any motel or restaurant on highways where vehicles stop for refreshment. If you set up a charging station even with two points, then hardly 10 by 10 feet space will be sufficient. So this is the space of a single vehicle charging station. But if you go on a large scale, then 100 to 800 square feet space will be required for an AC charging station. If you want to do business on a larger level, then you can also open an AC DC station, for which 2500 to 3000 square feet space will be required. However, such a large charging station is for cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Noida, Gurugram, Jaipur, Chennai, Hyderabad, where the number of EVs is high.
Types of EV chargers
Now talking about types of EV chargers, there are off board top down pantograf and on board bottom of pantograf which are used for charging electric buses. And you should also have the option of charger via connector. Voltage level wise, you should have power options of less than 3.7 kW, 3.7 to 22 kW and more than 22 kW. According to the charging point type, you should also have the option of AC and DC and slow and fast charging. Your charging station should have the equipment to charge two wheelers, three wheelers and four wheelers. Because the bigger the customer base, the more the business will grow.
Resources and Staff Required
To grow your business, you will also need manpower. If you move forward with two or three charging points on a small scale, then at least two people will be required. You can keep them on duty for eight hours each shift wise. Apart from this, to give a better customer experience, you can also keep a cleaning staff. Who will clean the vehicles that come. And if your charging station is big, then you can also provide the service of filling air in the tires. But both of these are completely optional. But yes, you can also implement them as the business grows. Now coming to small expenses, first of all you will have to take a commercial electricity connection. And it is necessary to do this because if you use the connection on lease or rent, then you may have to pay more electricity bill.
Not only this, because the problem of power cuts is also common in India, you will also have to keep a power backup so that you can provide service even during power cuts. If you want to establish an EV charging station, you can get a backup of solar power along with electricity, then this will be a smart decision. Do discuss this with the company from which you are taking the franchise. By the way, wherever you want to open your charging station, you should first get market research or survey done there. Obviously, the trend of vehicles is more in cities, so this business model will be more successful in cities only.
Safety and Legal Requirements
It is important to check the number of EVs in the city where you live. Whether people are driving EVs or not. While booking your business space, get proper legal documents prepared. Will the contract be renewed every year or for how many years are you taking the business space on lease? You should have their agreement. So that no one can remove you from there whenever they want.
There should be some open space around the location where you start your business. So that in case of fire, the things around are not damaged or unfortunately if there is any fire accident, fire engines can reach there. Care should also be taken that your charging station is not in a crowded place. Fire extinguishers should be present. Even if they are not in use, keep checking their expiry date and replace them on time. Because news of fires with electric vehicles keeps coming. So safety is very important. And further, apart from your business space, you should also have an authorized parking space.
So that if a vehicle comes for charging, they get proper parking. It should not happen that the vehicle that comes for charging is parked in a public property or private property. People can object. And if someone complains, you may suffer a loss.
Tips for EV Charging Station Success
It will be good if you do a search before establishing the business. If there is already an EV charging station in your city, then visit there and try to understand the business model. If there is no EV charging station in your city but there is business potential, then you can understand this business well by visiting the charging station present in any big city like Noida, Delhi, Gurugram.
Contact the company that provides franchise of EV charging station. If there is no business capital, then taking a bank loan is the easiest way. For this, you can choose your bank by comparing the interest rate of business loan. If any subsidy is available from the government, then you can also take advantage of it. For example, to promote electric vehicles, the Central Government has started a scheme called FME Fame or Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles. Under this scheme, there is also a facility of subsidy from the government. Subsidy of ₹ 10,000 on slow charges and ₹ 1 lakh on fast charges. So you can become a beneficiary by taking detailed information about it.
EV charging station data in India (till February 2024)
If we talk about the total number of charging stations in India. So according to the data of the Ministry of Power Government of India till February 2024, there are 12146 public EV charging stations operational across the country. In this too, Maharashtra is leading with 3089 stations. Delhi with 1086 stations and on the other hand Karnataka with 1041 stations are at the third position. At the same time, the country’s largest electric vehicle charging station is in Sector 86 of Gurugram. Which has a capacity of 121 charging points for four wheelers. So you too can increase your business profit by opening your own EV charging station. Or you can add a new wing to your business fleet.
Hopefully, you have come to know all the details of opening an EV charging station from this article. So all the best, if you are moving ahead with this business model or thinking about it. By the way, after knowing everything till here, you often keep thinking about a topic. So do one thing, write about that topic in the comment section right away.
