India developers seek to cash in on soaring EV sales with residential chargers

Puravankara

06/11/2023 09:29

By Aby Jose Koilparambil
       Nov 6 (Reuters) - More developers in India are putting
electric vehicle chargers in parking slots of new developments,
hoping to boost the value of the property and attract more
buyers in a country where the charging infrastructure can't keep
up with soaring EV sales.
    While EVs accounted for just 2.4% of India's vehicle sales
in the first half of this year, EV sales grew 137% to 48,000
units during the same period, research firm Canalys says. 
    The world's most populous nation is aiming to make EVs
account for a third of total vehicle sales by 2030, but scarcity
of public charging stations could derail these ambitions.
    Currently, there are 435 EVs for every public charging
station nationwide, according to power ministry data, in
contrast to the United States, which has 26 EVs per charger,
data from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation shows.
    For now, property developers including Sobha  SOBH.NS , and
property management firm Prestige  PREG.NS , are using this
shortage to their advantage, betting that EV chargers in
residential properties will make clients pay a premium for units
like swimming pools used to in the past.  
    "People considering purchasing EVs want assurance that they
will have access to charging facilities within the residential
complex," said Javed Shafiq Rao, senior vice president and head
of property management at Prestige, which is investing more in
properties with EV chargers.
    Sobha has gone a step further and launched two residential
projects in Bengaluru with EV charging facilities in all
available parking slots.
    Other developers betting on the trend include Mahindra
Lifespace  MALD.NS , Kolte-Patil  KOLT.NS , Brigade  BRIG.NS 
and DLF  DLF.NS .
    To be sure, Indian authorities are encouraging installation
of charging infrastructure, and each state has its own
guidelines: Delhi, for example, requires 20% of parking spots to
be reserved for EVs, while Uttar Pradesh, which has the most EV
registrations, mandates all new housing complexes above 5,000
square metres to have at least one EV charging unit.
    "No matter how fast public charging is, you need to go
there, stop there to get the charging done, while in
home-charging, you plug it in and your EV is fully charged
overnight," said Ravneet Phokela, Chief Business Officer of
energy firm Ather Energy.
    India is expected to see sales of more than 10 million EVs a
year by 2030, rising more than ten folds from last fiscal year,
according to the recent annual Economic Survey.

 (Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by
Dhanya Skariachan, Miyoung Kim and Miral Fahmy)
 ((abyjose.koilparambil@thomsonreuters.com))