Several new EVs are launched every day in the market. As the share of electric vehicles in the Indian car fleet is increasing, the question is about infrastructure to be put in place in order to meet recharging needs arises. The charging station market is currently booming. However, it is not homogeneous because there are three types of customers for whom the offers differ:
• The individual market
• The business market
• The local government market
The offers offered to private customers consist of the installation of a charging station suitable for secure environments. A real compact terminal of the home charging station gives the possibility of controlling energy consumption and is economical to use. The business market is governed by national contracts between major car manufacturers – such as TATA – and electric mobility operators, responsible for installing charging stations in private homes. In the case of Tesla, the strategy is even more advanced since the company wants its customers to be able to recharge at home via the Tesla storage terminal. The energy comes from Solar City solar panels (bought by Tesla in 2016) placed on the roof of the user’s house, which thus becomes energetically autonomous and independent. Within the private individuals market, the condominium segment offers significant growth prospects because it is relatively underdeveloped to date. We can also draw a parallel between the offers in this sector and those offered to companies.
The business market is centralized around three charging needs: the company’s fleet, employees’ vehicles, and customers. Unlike the individual market, mobility operators in charge of deploying terminal fleets have significant added value. Indeed, they offer real support throughout the process: a study of the solution to be implemented, sizing of the fleet of electric vehicles and the associated park of terminals, study of dynamic load management, etc. The existing solutions allow companies to optimize the profitability of their fleet of electric cars compared to diesel vehicles on trips of less than 10,000 kilometers per year. It is therefore possible to quickly amortize the investment required to renew a vehicle fleet made up of electric vehicles and a charging station system. Companies engaged in this process – from the energy sector as well as from other fields – can also highlight the ecological aspect.
The technological evolutions under development could call into question the structure of the charging station market. The energy storage capacity of electric car batteries is increasing thanks to the appearance of new technologies, such as hydrogen, lithium-ion, or even metal-air batteries. However, there will always be a need to charge vehicles, if only at home, which will also allow energy from the battery to be fed back into the electrical network (vehicle to grid).
In addition, charging stations are beginning to evolve towards “smart stations” giving the possibility of remote management of functions for both users and operators. Thus, they make smart charging possible, that is to say, the analysis of the needs of the vehicle, of the user’s contract, and the state of the network, to offer the best charging of electric vehicles. However, these options have a significant cost since any increase in fixed costs directly impacts the margin of the terminal. And the latter is already low depending on the place of installation, the desired power, and the mode of management. These new services are therefore a plus for customers but are not profitable to date. However, numerous charging networks are currently being developed across the country like Kazam EV which is striving hard to fulfill the demand for EVCS.
