ELECTRIC VEHICLE ADOPTION CHALLENGES AND CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING IN THE INDIAN URBAN ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Electric vehicles are being widely promoted currently. Globally, their adoption rate is increasing. A similar trend is also evident in India as well. The Government of India has been running various policies like Faster adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid & Electric Vehicles (FAME) and National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) to significantly increase the adoption and manufacturing rate by promoting awareness and providing incentives. This has resulted in growth in the Electric Vehicles (EV) sector, demonstrating that India has a high hope for its EV market. However, according to actual scenario, the growth could be more substantial. Barriers can hinder adoption at various levels, such as social, economic, or technical. With minimal evidence on the decision-making process of potential users and factors affecting EV adoption in Indian cities in the recent studies, there is also a glaring deficiency of a comprehensive evaluation framework for charging station planning, especially in developing countries like India. The present study aims to develop a comprehensive charging station evaluation framework for promoting EVs in India using potential users’ perception data from two cities of India, i.e., Delhi and Dehradun. To achieve this, the research objectives of the present study are (i) to identify barriers affecting the adoption of EVs in Indian cities; (ii) to understand the decision-making process and adoption intention of potential users; (iii) to propose a district-level plan for the locating potential alternate locations for charging stations; (iv) to propose a plan for charging infrastructure site selection; and, (v) to develop a framework for the evaluation and selection of EV charging technology. This study has utilised potential users’ perception survey data from 515 respondents from Delhi and 315 respondents from Dehradun and expert data from a total of 40 experts for accomplishing the research objectives. This study investigates how potential users' perception of the newly introduced technology has a major role in adopting two-wheelers and four-wheelers. For this purpose, logistic regression is used to identify the significant factors affecting the adoption of two-wheelers and four-wheelers in Delhi. For two-wheelers, a total sample size of 230 people is collected through semi-structured interviews. Of these, 209 are used for further analysis after cleaning the data. The data set is first trained and then tested.