India's EV charging stations cross 29,000, rise nearly six-fold since 2022

India had about 29,151 public EV charging stations as of December 2025 and 67,657 chargers as of early August 2026, with over 200 CPOs operating nationwide

India's electric vehicle (EV) charging station count stood at 29,151 as of December 2025, up nearly six-fold from around 5,000 stations in 2022, with over 200 CPOs operating across the country, according to a report by Rubix Data Sciences citing data from the Ministry of Heavy Industries.

 

The top 10 states account for nearly 78 per cent of this base, led by Karnataka (21 per cent) and Maharashtra (14 per cent), followed by Uttar Pradesh (8 per cent), Delhi (7 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (6 per cent).

 

Separately, India's charger count — a more granular measure than station count — stood at 67,657 as of August 7, 2026, including 1,139 chargers associated with battery swapping stations (BSS). Excluding BSS, 48,709 of 66,518 chargers, or about 73 per cent, are rated below 30 kW, pointing to significant headroom for higher-power infrastructure as passenger EV adoption scales. EV penetration is currently highest among three-wheelers at 60.77 per cent, followed by two-wheelers at 8.88 per cent and four-wheelers at 5.70 per cent.

  

The report attributes growth to rising EV adoption — 28.2 million vehicle registrations in 2025, including over 2.3 million EVs — alongside simplified licensing norms (charging stations have been notified as an unlicensed activity), supportive state and central regulations, and diversifying industry participation from oil and gas majors, power utilities and automotive OEMs. Fleet electrification, particularly among e-three-wheelers and e-buses, is also cited as a driver of recurring, predictable charging demand.

 

Government support remains a key catalyst: the PM E-DRIVE scheme has been extended by two years to March 2028, with its overall outlay increased to ₹11,900 crore, including ₹2,000 crore earmarked for public EV charging infrastructure. However, as of March 24, 2026, no charging stations had been installed under the scheme — a gap the report frames as a “significant opportunity” for CPOs to tap the extended implementation window.

 

Utilisation remains low, ranging between 1-3 per cent, according to an SBI report, and around 5 per cent, according to S&P Global, well below potential capacity. High and uneven electricity tariffs (Rs 6-15/kWh), which squeeze margins, particularly at low-utilisation stations, compound the problem. The report also flags complications from third-party host-site arrangements — where CPOs operate chargers at malls, highway restaurants and other commercial premises but rely on often-unorganised hosts for the electricity connection — creating blind spots around bill payments, GST/ITC compliance and energy-cost efficiency. Expensive site acquisition and a mandated minimum monthly uptime of 98 per cent add further operational and capital pressure.

 

“The paradox at the heart of India's charging story is this: stations have grown six-fold since 2022, but utilisation is still stuck at 1–5 per cent. That gap is where CPOs will either make money or burn through it,” said Tushar Bhaskar, president, Rubix Data Sciences. “The winners will be the ones who pick the sites that fleets and high-traffic corridors actually use, instead of trying to increase their presence on the map.”

 

The report points to two distinct long-term demand signals rather than a single range: the India Energy Storage Alliance projects annual EV sales could rise 12-fold to 30.4 million units by 2032 under a high-growth scenario, while separate industry estimates project as many as 50 million EVs on Indian roads by 2030. Against the government's target of 30 per cent EV penetration in new vehicle sales by 2030, a CII estimate cited in the report suggests India could require at least 1.32 million charging points by 2030 — nearly 20 times the number installed today — based on a planning ratio of one charger for every 40 EVs.

 

The report expects CPOs to increasingly compete on fast-charging corridors, high-traffic locations, interoperability and reliability, with operators that have strong site networks, efficient power management and differentiated customer offerings best placed to capture the opportunity.