Image credit: Nikita Podobulkin Wind Farm in India

Within India's vast mega cities, apartment living is more common than standalone housing. Yet, residential apartments are currently a barrier to EV uptake the world over, and likely to be a key reason India is lagging behind the world in EV Sales. Many locals have been waiting on the government to publish promised building code guidelines for EV. Finally today, the wait is over for India. The Department of Town and Country Planning under the Ministry of Housing & Urban Development has issued guidelines to provide for electric vehicle charging infrastructure through addendum to Model Building Bye-Laws. 

India is known for flip-flopping on EV policy, particularly after the u-turn on their initial announcement for EV-sales-only after 2030. (Now 30% New Sales by 2030.) It is possible then, that these new guidelines will also be relaxed if found to be impractical.

Even Norway struggles with the apartment issue, While California has already issued guidelines for multi-dwelling complexes. The most common issues are: lack of space to install a power point near the parking spaces; meter room not located on same floor as parking; preventing electricity theft; apprehensive body corporates and building managers; billing for power on shared ev parking spaces; EVSE installation, ownership & maintenance; H&S concerns; and building's power capacity being fully utilised.

Sooner or later either the New Zealand government or local governments will need to address these issues for our apartment dwellers. Solutions apply to all of the issues, but the building industry and body corporates need to be educated on what those solutions are. Perhaps our nation's leaders need to formulate our own guidelines. India's new legislation will, therefore, be an interesting test case for NZ and other countries.

[Rachelle Tilsley - Better NZ Trust - 7 Jan 2019]

The opinions stated are the author's own and are not necessarily those of the Better NZ Trust,

Buildings will have to allot 20% parking space for EV charging: India

Image credit: Lindrik Marine Drive, Mumbai

Residential and commercial complexes will have to allot 20% of their parking space for electric vehicle charging facilities, while eateries will have to reserve space for kiosks as per the new guidelines of the housing and urban development ministry.

The department of town and country planning under the ministry has issued guidelines to provide for electric vehicle charging infrastructure through addendum to Model Building Bye-Laws, 2016 and Urban and Regional Development Plan Formulation and Implementation Guidelines, 2014. The guidelines on charging infrastructure mandate provisions in various buildings.

“Based on the occupancy pattern and the total parking provisions in the premises of the various building types, charging infrastructures shall be provided only for electric vehicles, which is currently assumed to be 20% of all ‘vehicle holding capacity’ at the premise. Additionally, the building premises have to have an additional power load, equivalent to power all of the charging points operated simultaneously,” the guidelines said.

For residential and institutional buildings, they recommend that the metering and payment be linked with the house owner’s monthly maintenance bills with metered units credited to their smart card that is plugged during charging. The buildings should provide open metering and onspot payment options for visitors. “Charging bays shall be planned currently at 20% capacity of all vehicles including two-wheelers and cars,” the guidelines said.

image credit: Plugin India, Apartment Meters

They also provide for enhanced power load for each such building type by the power distribution company. "Connectivity regulations and safety norms will be the key for implementation of electric vehicle charging infrastructures both at individual and public premises,” said Alekhya Datta, fellow and area convenor, electricity and fuels division, TERI.

The power ministry last month issued guidelines for charging infrastructure under which it has asked public charging stations to install both Japanese and European charging platforms. The guidelines specify technical parameters for slow and fast varieties of CCS, CHAdeMO and other Bharat platforms. CHAdeMO is a charging platform used by Japanese car makers like Suzuki and Toyota, while Combined Charging System (CCS) is promoted by 15 out of 20 major OEMs across the globe.

The guidelines require one charging station to be set up every three km in cities and every 25 km on both sides of highways. The tariff for supply of electricity to electric vehicle public charging station shall not be more than the average cost of supply plus 15%, the guidelines said. States will fix a ceiling on service charges of the public charging stations. The power ministry early last year issued a notification clarifying that setting up charging stations for electric vehicles will not require a separate license under the Electricity Act of 2003.