The pump price is the new campaign manager. Petrol north of 100 rupees a litre in Delhi has shifted the calculus for India's middle class. They are going electric. But the grid is not ready. The charging infrastructure is a patchwork. This is a story of market pull versus policy lag.
Sales of electric vehicles have doubled year-on-year for three quarters running. Tata Motors, the domestic champion, cannot build the Nexon EV fast enough. The waiting list stretches to six months. MG Motor, the Chinese-owned outfit, is selling its ZS EV to an aspirational buyer who previously would have bought a Honda City.
The driver is simple: rupees and paise. Running an EV costs one-tenth per kilometre compared to petrol. In a country where the auto rickshaw is king, that margin changes lives. But the honeymoon is fragile.
Charging is the dark horse. Delhi has 1,800 public charging points for a city of 20 million. Mumbai is worse. The ratio is laughable. The government's FAME II scheme has allocated 2,600 crore rupees for charging infrastructure, but the money moves slowly. Bureaucratic inertia is a feature, not a bug.
Private players are stepping in. Tata Power has installed 1,000 chargers across 100 cities. Reliance Industries, the behemoth, is building a network along highways. But they need land, power connections, and local approvals. Each is a choke point.
The politics is fascinating. The central government wants to be seen as green. Prime Minister Modi talks up EVs at every global forum. But the states hold the levers. Discoms, the state electricity boards, are struggling with debt and cannot handle the load. A glut of EVs could crash the grid.
There is also the question of who pays. The GST on EVs is 5%, down from 12%. But states lose petrol tax revenue. Petrol levy is a cash cow. If EVs take off, state finances take a hit. The centre will have to find a compensation mechanism. The politics of that is a minefield.
Then there is the consumer trust deficit. Range anxiety is real. Battery fires, though rare, make headlines. The Indian summer is brutal. Batteries degrade faster in heat. Manufacturers offer 8-year warranties, but the scepticism lingers.
The signal from the market is clear: demand is there. The grid and the bureaucracy are not. This is a classic Indian story: ambition outpacing execution. The next election is in 2024. The government needs a success story. EVs could be it, but only if the charging challenge is cracked.
Watch the by-lanes. The real action is in the backroom tussle between the power ministry and the road transport ministry. One wants to regulate, the other wants to deregulate. The outcome will determine if the boom fizzles or accelerates.
