The Indian government is likely to now set its sights on low-cost charging points to power the electric transition in two- and three-wheelers. According to a statement issued by the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India, a target price of less than Rs. 3500 ($50) has been set ‘smart AC charge points.’ These devices, which can be operated with a smart phone, could be a major global breakthrough in charging technology.
“Fast-track development of the standard, close working between industry and government, and diligent testing and validation has met with success. This Low-Cost AC Chargepoint (LAC) allows up to 3 kW of power to be drawn charging e-Scooters and e-Autorickshaws. The user’s smart phone will communicate with the LAC via low-power bluetooth and links up to a back-end where transaction payment and analytics are enabled,” the statement read.
According to the PSA statement, a committee involving all the key stakeholders including EV manufacturers, auto and electronic component suppliers, power utilities, and communication service providers has developed specifications, prototyped products and undertaken testing and validated proposed standards which will be formally issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) within the next two months.
“Several Indian manufacturers are already on board to make this Charge Point Device, as per Indian Standards, with target prices starting as low as Rs. 3500. The LAC device is intended to be highly scalable and deployed in any place where a 220V 15A single phase line is available – mainly targeting parking lots of metro and railway stations, shopping malls, hospitals, office complexes, apartments and even kirana and other shops,” the statement adds. “The emphasis on charging points rather than costly charging stations has led to the accelerated efforts by the team for developing the LAC Charging standard for the light electric vehicles segment, as the next logical step,” said Rajiv Kumar, vice-chairman of NITI Aayod which partnered the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the PSA in the initiative.
