Incentives and infrastructure for Electric Vehicles in India: a possible way forward, make 'Charging Lots'

An electric car plying as a taxi near Delhi

The big news of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in India today is the huge reduction in the tax rates for EVs and EV chargers. These taxes have been brought down to just 5%.

This is likely to further spur the increase of EVs on Indian roads.

It is natural to be concerned about how far an electric car will travel on a single charge. But what if every place the car is parked has a charging option. Then this becomes less of an issue in short haul intermittent city driving. We could call these portions of the parking lots 'Charging Lots'.

Internal combustion engine cars travel hundreds of kilometers on a single tank of fuel. It takes just a few minutes to refuel and the car is ready for another long trip. However, this fuel takes quite a journey to reach the petrol station. From the crude oil fields to the refinery and then to the pumps. You need ships, pipelines and oil tankers and all sorts of logistics coordination for this to happen.

EVs can travel shorter distances after a long charging time. However, electricity is already reaching every where. No fresh infrastructure is needed except for the actual charging point. No ships, pipelines and oil tankers.

Just set aside a part of every parking lot only for EVs and having charging points installed. Either set a flat parking fee or charge and pay system.

Doing this may make the use of EVs in cities a breeze.

PS.
Also see my blog post:
My take on the future of EVs

Cars like electric engines