In an interview, Vasudha Madhavan, Founder & CEO, Ostara Advisors, shared insights with AutoEV Times on the rapid growth of India’s EV ecosystem and the critical need for a robust charging infrastructure network. She highlighted key challenges including uneven charger deployment, grid readiness, interoperability, and investment viability, while also discussing how government support, public–private partnerships, and standardised charging solutions can help create a scalable, reliable, and future-ready EV charging ecosystem across India.
Read the full interview here:
AET: India’s EV adoption is accelerating, but charging infrastructure remains a key constraint. What are the most critical gaps today in public and private charging networks, and which ones must be addressed first to support mass adoption?
Vasudha: India’s EV adoption is clearly gaining momentum, but charging infrastructure needs to scale faster and smarter to keep pace. The most critical gaps today lie in the uneven distribution of public chargers, limited availability of fast-charging options, and lack of interoperability across networks, which together create range anxiety for consumers. In urban areas, the challenge is access especially for apartment dwellers without dedicated parking while in highways and tier-2 and tier-3 cities, the issue is sparse coverage and unreliable uptime. On the private side, high upfront costs, grid readiness, and unclear monetisation models continue to slow deployment. To support mass adoption, the immediate priority must be expanding reliable fast-charging corridors on highways and dense urban clusters, alongside standardisation of charging protocols and better integration with DISCOMs to ensure grid stability. These steps will build user confidence and create the foundation for scalable, long-term EV growth in India.
AET: India’s charging ecosystem includes a mix of slow, fast, and ultra-fast chargers across urban, highway, and rural contexts. How should the country balance these charging formats to ensure accessibility, reliability, and cost-effectiveness at scale?
Vasudha: India needs a context-driven approach to charging infrastructure rather than a one-size-fits-all model. Slow and semi-fast chargers are best suited for residential societies, workplaces, and fleet depots, where vehicles are parked for longer durations and charging costs can be kept low. These formats will play a critical role in supporting daily urban commuting and two- and three-wheeler adoption at scale. Fast chargers, meanwhile, should be strategically deployed in high-traffic commercial hubs, transit points, and city outskirts to enable quick top-ups and improve utilisation rates without overburdening the grid.
For highways and long-distance travel, ultra-fast charging corridors are essential, but they must be rolled out selectively and backed by strong grid infrastructure, energy storage, and renewable integration to remain economically viable. In rural and semi-urban areas, reliability and affordability should take precedence over speed, making slower chargers combined with battery swapping or community charging models more practical. Balancing these formats effectively will require coordinated planning between policymakers, utilities, OEMs, and charge point operators, with a clear focus on utilisation, uptime, and total cost of ownership rather than just headline charger counts.
AET: Grid readiness is often cited as a major challenge. How can utilities, charging providers, and policymakers work together to manage power demand, integrate renewable energy, and avoid stress on local distribution networks?
Vasudha: Grid readiness will be a defining factor in the sustainable scale-up of India’s EV ecosystem, and it requires close coordination across utilities, charging providers, and policymakers. Utilities need greater visibility into charging demand through data sharing and smart metering, while charging operators must invest in load management technologies such as time-of-use pricing, demand response, and energy storage to flatten peak loads. Policymakers can enable this collaboration by setting clear standards, incentivising renewable-linked charging, and fast-tracking approvals for grid upgrades in high-growth EV zones. When combined with distributed solar, battery storage, and digitally enabled forecasting, this collaborative approach can ensure EV charging strengthens, rather than strains, local distribution networks.
AET: Interoperability, standardisation, and user experience are still evolving. How important are common standards, open networks, and digital platforms in building consumer trust and enabling seamless nationwide charging?
Vasudha: Interoperability and standardisation are critical to building consumer trust and accelerating nationwide EV adoption in India. A fragmented charging ecosystem with multiple apps, payment systems, and connector standards creates friction and uncertainty for users, especially first-time EV buyers. Common technical and digital standards, open-access networks, and unified discovery and payment platforms can significantly improve convenience, reliability, and transparency, making charging as intuitive as refuelling a conventional vehicle. Beyond user experience, interoperability also improves asset utilisation for operators and enables better grid integration and data-driven planning, making it a foundational requirement for scaling a truly national and consumer-friendly charging ecosystem.
AET: From an investment and policy perspective, what role do government incentives, public–private partnerships, and long-term planning play in making EV charging infrastructure commercially viable and future-ready for India’s mobility transition?
Vasudha: From an investment and policy standpoint, government incentives and public–private partnerships are essential to de-risk early-stage capital deployment and accelerate the build-out of EV charging infrastructure in India. Targeted subsidies, viability gap funding, and priority access to land and power connections can help improve project economics, while PPP models enable shared risk, faster execution, and better alignment with public mobility goals. Equally important is long-term planning through stable policies, clear standards, and coordinated urban and transport planning which gives investors confidence to commit capital and innovate beyond short-term returns. Together, these elements can transform charging infrastructure from a policy-led initiative into a commercially viable, scalable, and future-ready backbone for India’s EV transition.
