Widespread access to residential charging is critical for accelerating e-mobility in Indian cities. The amended Model Building Byelaws by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) recommend that 20% of all parking spaces in new multi-unit buildings, including residential buildings, be equipped with EV charging. However, there are no provisions enabling existing buildings to retrofit charging infrastructure on their premises. Furthermore, for both new and existing residential buildings, challenges remain such as lack of awareness, poor clarity on process to be followed, high demand charges, low expected utilization, unavailable spare capacity in connected load, etc. Finally, several residential neighbourhoods in Indian cities, especially those with single-family homes, are characterised by on-street residential parking, with vehicle parking not even available within residential premises.

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At the webinar on “Enabling Residential EV Charging Infrastructure,” DISCOM representatives discussed tariffs and subsidies available for setting up residential EV charging in different States, while property developers, resident welfare associations (RWAs) and charge point operators (CPOs) shared their insights on integrating EV charging in new as well as existing buildings. Two panel discussions were held, one on EV charging deployment in new residences, and the other on retrofitting EV charging in existing residential buildings.

Speakers at the panel discussion included:

Opening Remarks

Madhav Pai, Executive Director, WRI India, Ross Centre

Keynote address

• Sudhendu Jyoti Sinha, Adviser (Infrastructure Connectivity & Electric Mobility), NITI Aayog

Session 1: EV charging deployment in new residences

• Randheer Singh, Senior Specialist, Electric Mobility, NITI Aayog
• Nanda Kishore Ramky, Managing Director, Ramky
• G. Ram Reddy, Vice-President, CREDAI National
• Aarti Kulkarni, Executive Engineer, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL)
• Mahesh Patil, Assistant Engineer, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL)
• Sandeep Bangia, Business Head, EV Charging Ecosystem, Tata Power
• Charu Lata, Lead Consultant, Electric Mobility, NRDC
• Varun Chaturvedi, Founder and CEO, Volttic EV Charging Solutions
• Pawan Mulukutla, Director, Electric Mobility, WRI India (moderator)

Session 2: Retrofitting EV Charging in Existing Residential Buildings

• Abhishek Ranjan, Head of Renewable, Smart and DSM Projects, BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL), Delhi
• Shamanth Kuchangi, Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) Bengaluru
• Krishna K Jasti, Founder/CEO, EVRE
• Vishnu Gattupalli, Bangalore Apartments Federation
• Raphae Halim, EV Reviewer, PlugIn India
• Chaitanya Kanuri, Senior Manager, Electric Mobility, WRI India (Moderator)

Here are a few takeaways from this enriching panel discussion:

• It is necessary to create awareness among the EV community including existing and potential EV owners, property developers, RWAs and others, about the subsidies and tariffs that one can avail for setting up residential EV charging.
• Existing apartment buildings and gated communities can start by installing a bank of shared community chargers that can be accommodated within the available sanctioned load for the property, and subsequently scale up the charging facilities depending on residents’ EV charging needs.
• Globally, some good practices to enable residential EV charging include financial incentives, progressive building byelaws, smart charger mandates, ToD/ToU tariffs for EV charging, and utility-led charger installation programs.
• DISCOMs can play a significant role in streamlining the approval and installation of residential EV chargers, by instituting single-window application processes, creating clear operational guidelines for EV connections, and providing deferred payment plans to offset the capital costs of charger installation.
• Developers seek greater clarity in the integration of EV charging in new developments, be it in the allocation of charger-equipped parking spaces to homeowners, the potential to get an EV connection for the residential charging installations to benefit from the exempted/ reduced demand charges, or in terms of the appropriate charger specifications to account for when installing the electrical infrastructure.

RESOURCES

• Handbook of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Implementation, NITI Aayog
• Resources for setting up charging infrastructure in Delhi, BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd. (BRPL)
• Setting up community charging stations in apartments, Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF)