Glida plans to set up 3,000 EV charging points pan-India by March 2025

Firm currently has 450 charging points in 15 states, most of which are in Delhi NCR and Hyderabad; 1,000 charging points to come up by end of FY24

Glida, previously known as Fortum Charge & Drive India, is planning to set up 3,000 e-passenger vehicle (EV) charging points across India by March 2025, said its Executive Director Awadesh Kumar Jha on Wednesday.

Backed by the Finnish government, Glida currently has 450 charging points in 15 Indian states. "Most of our charging points are in Delhi (170), National Capital Region (100) and Hyderabad (80)," Jha told Business Standard in an interview.

In 2022-23 (FY23), e-two-wheeler penetration in India surged to 4.5 per cent from 1.9 per cent in FY22, data released by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations shows. In e-passenger vehicles (EVs), sales jumped by 153.47 per cent year-on-year in FY23, and e-three-wheelers saw an 118.25 per cent increase in the same period.

Jha said that the company is planning to increase the number of charging points to 1,000 by the end of the current fiscal year. "Our focus this fiscal year is to augment our charging points in cities. The investment this year would be anywhere between Rs 90-100 crore, " he added.

At present, about 90 per cent of Glida's charging points are based in cities and the remaining are on highways. "We plan to make this city to highway ratio 50:50 by 2030," Jha noted. The company's charging points are currently based on highways such as Delhi-Dehradun highway, Delhi-Jaipur highway, Delhi-Chandigarh, etc.

"On Bengaluru-Hyderabad highway, the company has applied for 5 electricity connections. Once we get those permissions, the charging points will be set up," he said, adding that this highway currently has one charging station with two charging points.

India currently has about 4,000 charging points for e-passenger vehicles. From the 10 per cent market share right now, the Finnish company wants to take it up to 33 per cent by 2030, he mentioned.

By 2030, Glida expects that India may need anywhere about 60,000-150,000 public charging points for e-passenger vehicles. Fortum Charge & Drive India unveiled its new brand identity Glida on Wednesday.

The Indian government has stated that it wants e-passenger vehicles to be 30 per cent of the total passenger vehicle market of the country by 2030.