Glida plans to set up 3,000 EV charging points pan-India by March 2025
Glida, formerly known as Fortum Charge & Drive India, plans to set up 3,000 electric passenger vehicle (EV) charging points across India by March 2025, CEO Awadesh Kumar Jha said on Wednesday.
With the support of the Finnish government, Glida currently has 450 charging points in 15 Indian states. “Most of our charging points are in Delhi (170), NCR (100) and Hyderabad (80),” Jha told Business Standard in an interview.
Data released by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations for 2022-23 (FY23) showed two-wheel drive penetration in India rose to 4.5 per cent from 1.9 per cent in FY22. In electronic passenger cars (EVs), sales jumped by 153.47% year over year in fiscal ’23, and e-three-wheelers saw an increase of 118.25% in the same period.
Jha said the company plans to increase the number of charging points to 1,000 by the end of the current fiscal year. He added, “Our focus in this financial year is to increase charging points in cities. The investment this year will be anywhere between Rs 90-100 crore.”
Right now, about 90 percent of Glida’s charging points are in cities, with the remainder on highways. “We plan to make the ratio of this city to highway 50:50 by 2030,” Jha noted. The company’s charging points are currently based on highways like Delhi-Dehradun Highway, Delhi-Jaipur Highway, Delhi-Chandigarh, etc.
“On the Bengaluru-Hyderabad highway, the company has applied for five electrical connections. Once we get these permissions, the charging points will be established,” he said, adding that this highway currently has one charging station with two charging points.
India currently has around 4,000 e-passenger car charging points. He noted that from the current 10 percent market share, the Finnish company wants to reach 33 percent by 2030.
By 2030, Glida predicts, India may need anywhere from 60,000 to 150,000 public charging points for e-passenger vehicles. Fortum Charge & Drive India unveiled its new brand identity, Glida, on Wednesday.
The Indian government has stated that it wants e-passenger vehicles to be 30 percent of the total passenger car market in the country by 2030.