Tata's EV unit to help set up over 10,000 charging stations by FY25

India's largest electric carmaker by market share, Tata Passenger Electric Mobility on Monday signed agreements with several charge point operators (CPOs) including ChargeZone, Glida and Statiq to develop India's EV charging infrastructure.

TPEM will actively assist the these CPOs in installing chargers at locations most frequented by its EV owners and share insights on how the chargers are being used to help understand and enhance customer experience.

Chargezone, Glida (formerly known as Fortum Charge & Drive India), Statiq, and Zeon are leading CPOs in the country, with a combined network of nearly 2,000 charging points across key cities.

Through this collaboration, the CPOs intend to roll out over 10,000 additional charging points within the next 12-15 months.

India significantly lags other geographies on charging infrastructure, with roughly 200 EVs per commercial charging point in India, as compared to around 20 in the U.S. and less than 10 in China. A well-developed charging ecosystem will be important to drive EV adoption, not just within cities but across key national highways.

CPOs will use Tata's telematics insights as India's biggest electric car producer has more than 1.15 lakh EVs on Indian roads.

Tata's EV unit will also work with Chargezone, Glida, Statiq, and Zeon to explore the possibility to roll-out a smart payment gateway through co-branded RFID cards respectively, that will enable ease of payment for Tata EV users.

"EV adoption is a national imperative to address urban pollution, and convenient charging infrastructure is a  key enabler for driving faster EV adoption. The need of the hour for accelerating a nationwide charging ecosystem is open collaboration, and we are delighted to announce our strategic collaboration with Chargezone, Glida, Statiq, and Zeon, to accelerate India’s journey towards e-mobility. This collaboration will benefit from TPEM's unparalleled EV usage insights, coupled with the CPOs' innovative charging solutions and entrepreneurial spirit, and create 10,000+ additional charging points in the country by FY25," says Balaje Rajan, chief strategy officer, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility.

The expansion of charging infrastructure has been shown to lead to a significant increase in the adoption of EVs. "This partnership represents more than just a business tie-up; it's a testament to our shared vision for the future of mobility. Together, we aim to redefine the EV landscape, introducing cutting-edge technologies and pioneering solutions that will shape the industry for years to come," says Raghav Arora, co-founder & CTO, Statiq.

"The partnership opens up opportunities for further enhancing charging infrastructure at favourable customer touch points, increasing reach on highway and city centres, convenient discovery & status of charging infrastructure on EV dashboard, thus putting 'customer experience' at the core of this partnership," says Awadhesh Kumar Jha, executive director, Glida.