Faced with resistance to allowing Electric Vehicle charging stations in residential neighbourhoods, EV makers are looking to fill the gap in availability of charging stations by setting them up in community areas.

Speaking to businessline on the sidelines of the ongoing Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025, EV manufacturers said they face a lot of resistance from Residential Welfare Associations (RWAs) or societies when their engineers go to install personal charging points for the customers. They have been sending representations to the various authorities and State governments to help educate the societies/ associations but the situation has not improved.

“That is still a difficult point right now (for personal chargers at residential buildings). So in community areas we should coordinate with the communities to find a safe location to set up charging systems for the residents,” Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Maruti Suzuki India, said.

He said the company was exploring a lot of options when it comes to charging, including installation at Maruti service stations in top 100 cities to start with, and on top of that public charging stations with third parties. The company unveiled its first EV e Vitara at this Expo and will roll out in the domestic market in the second half of this calendar year.

“We will also put everything on our app so that customers can check the availability of slots at these charging stations and make online payments seamlessly through the same app. So, we want to create such ecosystem to eliminate customer anxiety. Battery-as-a-service (BAAS) is another option to eliminate customer’s pain point…we are still working and by the time we decide on pricing and others, we can explain our solutions,” Takeuchi added.

Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, who is also the President of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, said representations to resolve the issue at residential complexes have been going to the government for a while.

‘Right to charge’

“We have been saying that there should be a ‘right to charge’… Electric vehicle customers shouldn’t be devoid of getting access to charging wherever they stay. And, we have gone with two pronged approach – wherever it is allowed to put up a charger for individual buyers in their parking lot, we are supporting that. But, we believe that the sustainable model is to give community level charging,” he said.

“Every society should have common chargers because chargers are hardly utilised if you are individual putting the chargers (at homes). For instance, five chargers at a society can cater to around 50 cars…one charger can take care of five-six cars and when they need additional chargers they can keep putting extra chargers at the society, he said.

“But, if one charger can take care of five-six cars I think that is more a sustainable model and it is a good revenue model for even the residential complex and societies” Chandra added.

However, companies like BYD India said that it is not facing much of a problem as of now.

“What we are experiencing at this point in time is that most of our customers have private homes and for them it’s not a big challenge…It’s a big country, it’s gonna take time, let’s accept it. But, government is spending a lot of money and they have understood, and that’s why their policies are going on those lines,” Rajeev Chauhan, Head of Electric Passenger Vehicles (EPV) Business at BYD India, said.

Gaurav Gupta, Chief Growth Officer at JSW MG Motor India said most of their customers are bearing the load in their own homes individual chargers (wall mounted) that require a minimum of 7.3-7.4 kilowatt.

“We have put more than 24,000 chargers till now in people’s homes, condominiums and public places. We have always seen in some places where customers said they would require permission from the RWA, but at the same time I would request that more than focusing on what is the issue, it is more about the openness and understanding by the associations wherever they are where they put the chargers,” Gupta added.