The Real Bottleneck In EV Adoption

As India accelerates automotive electrification, is our power grid prepared for the surge? 

While electric vehicle charging infrastructure is expanding, grid modernisation remains a critical challenge yet to be addressed.

The transport sector in India accounts for 18% of total energy consumption in India. Now, India is transitioning to electric vehicles (EV), driven by government policy initiatives like PM E-Drive, FAME, PLI, amongst others, but the nation’s power grid will face many challenges as the percentage of electric vehicles in the total vehicle population rises.

While charging infrastructure expansion dominates discussions whenever we talk about roadblocks for EV penetration, grid modernisation is a critical bottleneck threatening to slow progress.

Current EV Growth And Grid Demand

Electric vehicle adoption has accelerated in India, with 1.96 Mn EVs registered in FY25 against 1.68 Mn units a year ago. As per the regulator, Central Electricity Authority (CEA), electricity consumption at public chargers stood at 465 GWh between April-October 2024 against only 204 GWh during 2022-2023.

Further, the CEA estimates that as the majority of charging occurs at home, energy demanded by EV charging will stand at 4,000 GWh in 2025 and jump to 38 TWh by 2032. With EVs expected to add significant load to the grid, India’s grid must evolve from a linear power distributor to a dynamic, bi-directional real-time on-demand network.

Grid Vulnerabilities Exposed

Peak Load Stress: India’s grid already faces regular evening demand spikes. Concurrent EV charging during these peak timings risks overloading distribution networks, causing voltage fluctuations and outages.

For instance, Delhi’s 2024 grid instability incidents may partly be attributed to unregulated EV charging.

Infrastructure Gaps:

• Charging Stations: India has only 2,500 public chargers versus China’s 3.2 Mn, creating a demand-supply mismatch
• Urban-Rural Divide: 65% of charging infrastructure is in large urban centers, neglecting rural areas where 65% of India’s population resides.
• Grid Capacity: Despite 470 GW installed electricity generation capacity as on date, distribution bottlenecks persist. DISCOMs require large amounts of capital to spend on infrastructural upgrades to handle projected EV loads. 

Renewable Integration: As mentioned earlier, electric vehicles can add many TWh of demand by 2030. Hence, without solar and/or wind integration, this risks shifting emissions from vehicle tailpipes to coal plants.

Solutions for Grid Modernisation

Vehicle-To-Grid (V2G) Technology

V2G systems enable batteries within electric vehicles to act as decentralised storage units, feeding power back to the grid during peaks. Trials by discoms in various cities in India indicate potential for significant grid load reduction during peak hours. Singapore’s success with V2G demonstrates its potential to stabilise grids while monetising idle EV batteries.

Smart Charging & Pricing Models

• Time-of-Use (or Time-of-Day) Tariffs (ToU, ToD): Many states in India have ToU/ToD tariffs where prices vary by time and these are majorly focused on commercial and industrial users. AI-Driven Load Balancing: Pulse Energy’s smart grids in Maharashtra use machine learning to predict demand spikes, adjusting supply in real-time.
• Solar-Powered Charging Corridors: Electrify America, one of the leading EV charger installers in the USA, has installed 30 solar powered EV charging stations in California. Even in India, there are multiple state-level policies and incentives to install solar-powered charging stations. 
• Battery Swapping Networks: Startups like SUN Mobility, Yuma, Baaz, Zeno and Battery Smart in India are deploying swap stations for electric two-wheelers & three-wheelers and have the potential to reduce direct grid load. These networks can charge batteries during non-peak hours and have the potential to provide energy back to the grid during peak hours.

Policy And Investment Roadblocks

Despite significant progress and multiple solutions being piloted and tried pan-India, critical gaps remain:

• Funding Shortfalls: The Majority of the government support and incentives are directed at the demand side, with end customers getting lower costs for their vehicles. There is also support on the charging infrastructure, however very little capital is being provided for grid upgrades. 
• Fragmented State Policies: There is no consistency when it comes to policies, with some states like Delhi and Maharashtra leading the way in offering subsidies and exemptions, however other states are not supporting as much leading to lack of consistency and fragmented policies across borders.
• DISCOM Preparedness: Even though smart metering has come a long way in India, many DISCOMs lack smart metering infrastructure for load management and hence are not able to implement some innovative solutions to support grid infra.

The Path Forward

India’s grid modernisation requires:

• Careful and detailed planning, along with large investments are needed in smart meters, V2G systems, and rural substations by 2030.
• Critical that the regulator mandates DISCOMS to consider EV charging load as part of their demand forecasting. We can utilise public-private partnerships to scale solar charging, leveraging CSR funds and green bonds.
• As Sudhir Kumar of CARE Ratings notes, “Distribution upgrades must match generation growth—or India’s EV ambitions risk stalling”. While installation of new charging stations and a growing charging network are visible marks of progress, the real challenge for electrification will be won or lost in grid control rooms and policy corridors.

Learning from Amsterdam’s grid-responsive charging networks and Singapore’s V2G models, India must prioritise grid resilience to avoid a clean mobility paradox — EVS thriving at the cost of grid stability.