The surge of electric vehicles in India
The global market for electric vehicles (EVs) is growing, including in the world's most populated country, India. To support this growth, more charging stations need to be installed with the help of IEC work.
When a US EV giant announced it was opening its first showroom in Mumbai recently, all eyes were on India's skies. Indian cities have some of the most polluted air on this planet, and as India is the world's fourth-largest automotive market by volume, much of it comes from cars. The market for EVs is growing steadily: it accounted for 4% of new car sales in May this year. With government incentives and moves such as that of the US company, many industry experts expect the number of EVs to rise much more substantially, helping to bring down CO₂ emissions and reduce air pollution.
EVs include two and three-wheelers
The rise in EV adoption in India is following global trends. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in 2024, more than 17 million electric cars were sold worldwide, a rise of over 25% on the previous year and making up more than 20% of new cars sales.
In India, there were nearly 2 million new EVs in 2024, up 27% on 2023. According to government estimates, the EV market is tipped to grow to over USD 110 billion by 2029, from USD 3,21 billion in 2022, driven by major launches from Korean and Indian companies. In addition, there has been a significant rise in the number of startups and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) developing electric two- and three-wheelers as well as commercial vehicles, buses and trucks.
As part of the Indian government's commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2070, the goal is to have 80 million EVs on the road by 2030, with EV sales to make up 30% of private cars, 70% of commercial vehicles, 40% of buses and 80% of two- and three-wheelers.
Government incentives are a key factor
What's more, the government wants this global effort toward electric mobility to be sustained by Indian companies as part of the Make in India initiative. To achieve this, it has offered a number of incentives in recent years such as the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme. It launched in April 2015 and ran until 2022, offering subsidies and financial support to purchase EVs and to support the installation of public charging stations.
Other initiatives include the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, a USD 2,2 billion programme offering financial incentives to EV makers over five years to boost domestic manufacturing; a battery swapping policy aimed at standardizing battery specifications for faster adoption; and the new Scheme to Promote Manufacturing of Electric Passenger Cars in India (SPMEPCI), which offers lower import duties to companies that invest at least USD 480 million in new EV manufacturing facilities in India within three years. Moreover, many individual states have issued their own policies and incentives for both the purchase of EVs and investment in infrastructure development.
Achieving these goals will have far-reaching consequences, both locally and worldwide, most notably relating to air pollution. According to IQAir, India is ranked fifth in terms of countries with the worst air quality, and its PM 2.5 (fine particle) concentration is currently 10,1 times higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) annual guideline value. Nearly one million people die prematurely each year in the country because of air pollution and 27% of this pollution comes from vehicles.
Infrastructure is a challenge
One of the problems which could hinder growth is related to the infrastructure. While local car manufacturers have plans to boost EV production, the shortage of charging stations remains the biggest challenge. The country has more than 25 000 public charging stations already in operation, and the numbers are growing, but it is a far cry from the estimated 1,32 million that will be needed by 2030, according to government estimates.
Kishor Narang is an international expert on standardization for sustainability and is heavily involved in standards development efforts in India. He is a member of a wide range of IEC Technical Committees, including IEC TC 69 for electric power systems for EVs, IEC TC 13 for electricity meters and SyC SET on sustainable electrified transportation.
"Range anxiety is a significant barrier to EV uptake, so ensuring not only that there are more charging stations but ones that consumers can rely on is essential to build the trust needed to grow this sector," he says. This is why he is leading work to explore synergies between the two committees, aiming to develop standards that ensure the reliability and accuracy of EV charging stations.
Standards and conformity assessment can help
Providing the tools to support EV production and safety is a key focus for the IEC, with many committees dedicated to this effort. Standards include the IEC 61851 series for charging systems and ISO/IEC 15118 for charging communication.
According to Narang, the IEC National Committee for India, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), has a mirror committee of IEC TC 69, which has published 22 standards on the subject, most of which are either adopted from or harmonized with IEC Standards.
"This means experts have also developed the required compliance testing infrastructure. Yet there are still many gaps, so a number of areas are being explored for standardization and conformity assessment, such as connectors and the integration of EVs with the electric utilities' infrastructure," he says.
One of the IEC's four Conformity Assessment Systems, IECEE (IEC System of Conformity Assessment Schemes for Electrotechnical Equipment and Components) also has a specific programme for EVs through its registered certification body testing laboratories (CBTLs) and national certification bodies (NCBs). They can test and certify charging systems, stations and plugs against IEC Standards.
Narang adds that IEC TCs and those of BIS are also looking at the whole EV ecosystem, which is imperative if they are to fully contribute to sustainability goals. "As electricity supply evolves and charging with renewable energy becomes more widespread, materials and production will become the dominant sources of emissions in an EV's lifecycle. Reaching net zero means not just using EVs powered by renewable energy but also decarbonizing EV production," he warns.
This requires using only clean or renewable energy to power electric-intensive production processes – something that not only India, but the whole world, still has to grapple with.