Last Updated: February 2020 by Narasimhan Santhanam
This pos
t is a part of EV Next’s EV Perspectives.
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Introduction
How much does it cost to implement an EV charging station in India? This is not a simple question to answer, as there are many types and capacities for EV charging stations, and costs can vary widely from one to another. We are hence providing a summary of capital and operational costs for the two main types (AC & DC fast charging) of stations, and also for different capacities.
In addition to providing estimates based on international cost data, we also analyzed available Indian data for EV charging stations. As of Sep 2018, such data is available only sparsely owing to the limited number of charging stations in the country. Our data points, however, provide some indicative but useful estimates for those keen on investing in EV charging infra in India.
Based on our calculations, the following are our inferences from Indian data points. All these data were obtained for mid-2018 period :
Operating Costs for EVSEs in India
The three main operational costs are:
- Cost of Electricity Consumed
- Cost of Labour
- Cost of Other O&M – routine maintenance, spares & repair etc.
Cost for Electricity
With an assumption of Rs 6/kWh to be the cost of electricity, the following are the total power costs for a 5 and 10 hour operation for three different types of charging stations.
For 10 hours operation
For 5 hours Operation
Labour Cost
Currently, there are very few real life cost data for labour costs in India. It will be difficult to draw conclusions from international O&M costs as most of these stations use very little direct labour.
In India too, we do not expect labour costs to be significant as there might not be any dedicated labour force for these stations unless they scale to very large levels – in most cases, these are self-service mechanisms, and in select cases, labour manning related, adjacent localities might assist in these too, thus obviating the need for dedicated manpower.
Other O&M Costs
The last part of the O&M costs, which includes scheduled & unscheduled maintenance, and spares etc., is estimated to be in the range of 10-15% of the total installation costs. This has been arrived at based on many cost benchmarks from international installations.
The following table was prepared based on international data on charging station expenses, but adapted to Indian conditions, with costs such as labour costs suitable adjusted. Most of these charging stations are predominantly for charging electric cars and not for smaller vehicles such as two and three wheelers.
All Costs in Rs.
Know more on the EV charging ecosystem in India from: Components of EVSE | Bharath DC001 | Bharat AC001 | EVSE Growth Trends | Battery Swapping Growth Trends | EVSE Cost components | EVSE installation costs | Battery swapping in India | Indian EVSE Stakeholders | Charger Standards | Current Indian EVSE status | EVSE Challenges | EVSE during 2020-2030 |
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See also the blog posts:
- EV Charging Station Growth – India & Global AC & Fast DC Electric Vehicle Charging Trends
- Current Scenario in India’s EV Infrastructure – Electric Vehicle Charging Station Tech, Biz Models, Battery Swapping
- India EV Charging Stations Stakeholders – Solution Providers, Installers for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
Comprehensive Inputs on Indian EV Ecosystem
Check out the following sections for comprehensive inputs on Indian EV ecosystem (click on each section for more details)
