The quantity of electricity consumed by public charging stations (PCSs) for electric vehicles (EVs) in the national capital territory (NCT) of Delhi has more than doubled on an annual basis in the first seven months of the current financial year.

As per the latest data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), PCSs in Delhi consumed 206.23 million units (MU) during the April-October period in FY25, a growth of more than 101 per cent on an annual basis.

In fact, the power consumption by charging stations in Delhi is on way to account for half of the total electricity consumed by PCSs in the country.

Top consumers

Delhi raised its share in the total electricity consumption by EV PCSs in the country to 46.93 per cent during April-October of FY25, compared to 44.31 per cent during the same period a year-ago.

Maharashtra was the second highest power consuming state via EV PCSs during the first seven months in FY25, with consumption growing by 59 per cent y-o-y to 108.13 MU.

However, Maharashtra’s share in total power consumed by EV PCSs in April-October FY25 fell to 24.61 per cent from 29.41 per cent a year-ago. Delhi’s power consumption by PCSs is now almost double of Maharashtra.

Maharashtra was followed by Gujarat, where EV PCSs consumed 36.34 MU of electricity, a growth of 39 per cent y-o-y. However, Gujarat’s share in total power consumed fell to 8.27 per cent in April-October of FY25 from 11.34 per cent a year-ago.

The cumulative electricity consumption by the PCSs on a pan-India basis stood at 439.46 MU, a growth of over 90 per cent Y-o-Y.

Rise of EVs

The higher electricity consumption by PCSs is being attributed to the rise in number of EVs being sold including two and three-wheelers that are increasingly being used in the transportation and logistics services for last mile delivery particularly by e-commerce and quick commerce firms.

According to BloombergNEF, India’s passenger EV sales in 2023 nearly doubled from a year earlier to reach 96,100 units and are set to surpass 1,00,000 units in 2024. While sales have plateaued, more model launches in popular segments will help India’s EV sales rise by 143 per cent to exceed 2,33,200 by 2027.

“India’s annual demand for lithium-ion batteries from EVs grows 10 times between 2023 and 2030 to exceed 74 gigawatt-hours. Electric two- and three-wheelers are the leading demand sources for batteries in BNEF’s short-term outlook.

Their share of India’s total battery demand (including stationary storage) peaks at 50 per cent in 2027. Subsequently, demand from passenger vehicles as well as stationary storage starts to pick up on account of rising EV adoption and growing deployment of renewables, respectively, it added.

As per the Vahan dashboard, India has a total of around 49.52 lakh EVs (Battery Operated Vehicles), while pure EVs are around 4.75 lakh as of December 25, 2024.

According to market intelligence firm 1Lattice, India’s charging infrastructure market is expected to reach around $3.7 billion by Calendar Year (CY) 2030 witnessing a CAGR of around 22 per cent during CY2023-2030.