GIZ India, Tata Power, and NITI Aayog released a report on ‘Smart Charging Strategies and Technologies for Electric Vehicles in India’

~The report is a first in the series of the ongoing study on ‘Simulation-based study to evaluate the effects of E-mobility smart charging strategies’~

GIZ India, in cooperation with NITI Aayog, Government of India, and Tata Power has released the first report titled, ‘A Critical Review: Smart Charging Strategies and Technologies for Electric Vehicles’. The report focuses on concepts of smart charging, a critical review of various smart charging strategies and approaches for electric vehicles, smart charging technologies, and related commercially available smart charging products along with the impact of EVs on the power system and power grid.

The report was launched by Mr. Sudhendhu Jyoti Sinha, Advisor, Infrastructure Connectivity & Electric Mobility vertical, NITI Aayog, Government of India, in a virtual event.  Dr. Steffen Koch, Minister – Head of the Department for Economic & Global Affairs Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany graced the audience with insights from Germany in his special address. Dr. Winfried Damm, Head of the Indo-German Energy Programme, GIZ India, mentioned about the importance of e-mobility to achieve India’s climate protection commitments in his inaugural session.

The technical session of the event witnessed discussions by key experts from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and the Universidad Pontificia Comillas (IIT Comillas) on the impact of EV penetration into the power system & power grid, associated challenges, and concept of smart charging to solve such challenges and bring benefits to the power system.

The report also focuses on the gaps in Indian regulation policies from the smart charging perspective and is a part of an ongoing regional project titled, ‘The Nationally Determined Contribution-Transport Initiative for Asia’ (NDC-TIA), funded under the International Climate Initiative (IKI) by the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), and comprising of seven organisations and including the partner countries India, China, and Vietnam. The implementation partner of this NDC-TIA India project is NITI Aayog, Government of India.

Dr. Indradip Mitra, Team Leader, E-mobility, Indo-German Energy Programme, Country Coordinator for NDC-TIA India Component, GIZ India, and Dr. Norbert Henze, Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology IEE R&D Division Power System Stability and Converter Technology, Kassel, Germany, presented important details about the report and included discussions on the overall simulation-based study to evaluate the effects of E-mobility smart charging strategies and highlighted the importance of technical cooperation between India and Germany for achieving India’s national goals and NDC commitments.

During the launch ceremony, Dr. Praveer Sinha, CEO and Managing Director, Tata Power shared his valuable insights on importance of smart charging  which can pave  the future direction for the EV charging ecosystem across the  country . Dr. G. Ganesh Das, Chief – Strategy, Collaborations, Innovation and R&D , Tata Power- DDL delivered the vote of thanks and shared with impact of the report while elaborating  on the integration of key economic drivers like transportation and E-mobility while expressing the need for grid optimization . 

Key takeaways from the report were discussed by Prof. Zakir Hussain Rather, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB), and Mr. Andre Hartung, Fraunhofer IEE. The report will significantly contribute to the existing framework for robust charging infrastructure. The EV ecosystem expansion is happening at a rapid pace in India. As one of the country’s largest EV charging solutions provider, Tata Power has played a key role in establishing a strong base through this study which will pave the future direction for the EV charging ecosystem in India. It is also working on solutions to power EV charging points across the country using renewable sources for offering a seamless charging experience.

The study “Simulation-based study to evaluate the effects of E-mobility smart charging strategies” has been carried out by a consortium led by Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology IEE, Kassel, Germany, and supported by the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in India (IITB), Universidad Pontificia Comillas (IIT Comillas) in Madrid, Spain, and Technical University Denmark (DTU) in Copenhagen, Denmark. The main objective of this study is to understand relevant smart coordinated charging strategies that require to be adopted in different scenarios and conditions in India. Different charging strategies have been selected under the study to perform load flow analysis and simulations on real feeder level data obtained from Tata Power. Towards the end of the event, a way forward and an outlook was also presented by Prof Martin Braun, Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology IEE, Kassel, where he highlighted advanced technologies in e-mobility space such as Vehicle to Grid (V2X), Virtual Power Plant (VPP), etc.

 Tata Power facilitated this study for GIZ India with real data for several feeders in its distribution network across the three Indian cities of Delhi, Mumbai, and Bhubaneswar. The company has a significant presence in all the segments of the power sector, viz Fuel & Logistics, Generation (thermal, hydro, solar, and wind), Transmission, Distribution, and Trading.

Report Link – https://greenmobility-library.org/public/index.php/single-resource/QlBDRnJiUnRSb0lmaGxGaFJNM0xuUT09