The government is working on the modalities of charging infrastructure for the electric vehicles (EVs). The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) is in talks with Ministry of Power as the quantum of electricity consumed by public charging stations (PCS) for EVs have doubled in the first quarter of the current fiscal.

“In big cities like Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai where EVs are mostly concentrated, there is additional power consumption of 3 per cent. This is more during usual peak load. We are in touch with the Ministry of Power on how to shift charging of these vehicles to day time instead of night time,” Kamran Rizvi, Secretary, MHI, told businessline.

“All segments cannot be shifted to day charging, but to start with, at least electric two-wheeler and four-wheeler users can be shifted to day. We are working with the Ministry of Power on this,” Rizvi said.

More swapping

When asked if the demand of power was more because of higher swapping infrastructure on the roads, he said, “Swapping is a small percentage of all EVs. They are small battery size (mainly for two-wheelers and three-wheelers).”

As per data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), PCS consumed 176.87 million units (MU) of energy during the April-June quarter in FY25, a growth of more than 108 per cent year on year compared with 84.95 MU of energy in Q1 FY24.

The surge was due to the country’s exponential growth in EVs. The total EV registrations in September saw a notable 23 per cent annual increase to 1.59 lakh units, up from 1.29 lakh units in September 2023. In the first half of the current fiscal, the total EV registrations across all segments rose to 8.93 lakh units, a 20 per cent jump compared with 7.45 lakh units in the same period last year.