The Ministry of Heavy Industries first issued draft protocols for national standards for AC and DC charging stations in March 2017, which was later released for stakeholder comments. Several stakeholders, including Electric Mobility Alliance, Mitsubishi Motors, and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, submitted the comments.
It has adopted recommendations for the implementation of national standards for electric vehicle charging stations — Bharat EV Charger AC-001 and Bharat EV Charger DC-001.
The draft protocol did not venture into the use of private chargers (installed at homes) and restricted itself to the use of public chargers. The protocol indicates a variable price for charging EVs from public chargers depending on the supply-demand scenario of the grid at a particular instant.
The panel further discussed how the charging stations will communicate with the power supplier and how the vehicle owner would be billed and payments made. It also proposed that a revenue sharing arrangement between the space providers and suppliers of chargers would present a commercially viable solution.
The draft protocol further states the details of specifications for AC and DC chargers, including the type of wires and cables needed, various buttons and displays required at the charging console and payment gateways.
