Tata Power plans to set up 28,000 chargers across India by 2028, the company's head for charging networks said in an interview.
Virendra Goyal, head of business development (EV Charging), Tata Power, told Deccan Herald the company was eyeing 7,000 chargers by March next year.
Tata Power, which has more than 4,000 MW of renewable capacity, currently has about 4,500 active charging points, with coverage across 390 cities. Goyal said the company was in the process of completing 1,000 more chargers, which would take its coverage to 500 cities. It is active is all four segments of the EV charging market: bus fleet, home charging, public and semi-public charging, Goyal said.
The company has about 650 chargers in the South, but is increasing focus in the region, which Goyal called the "EV capital" of India. He said the company had identified certain highways, specifically the ones connecting Bengaluru with different cities such as Mysore, Belgaum, Kochi and Coorg, which would receive charging infrastructure to make inter-city travel easier.
Goyal opined that battery swapping was suitable for two- and three-wheelers, but difficult in the case of larger vehicles such as passenger cars and above, because of the size and weight of the battery, which can be as much as 300 kg or more.