Drive through Delhi and you’ll find a charging station every three square kilometres—a density approaching developed market standards. Travel to Bihar or Jharkhand, however, and those stations become rare sightings, leaving EV owners stranded with range anxiety that no government press release can alleviate. This tale of two Indias encapsulates the paradox of the country’s electric vehicle charging revolution: spectacular headline growth masking profound regional inequalities that threaten to fragment the national EV ecosystem. India’s public charging infrastructure has witnessed explosive expansion, with stations soaring from just over 5,000 in 2022 to a remarkable 29,277 as of August 2025—a nearly six-fold increase in merely three years.
This transformative growth, fuelled by both central schemes like PM E-DRIVE and FAME III, alongside state-level initiatives, is fundamentally reshaping the nation’s charging landscape. Yet beneath these impressive headline figures lies a complex web of utilisation patterns, stark regional disparities, and infrastructure challenges that shape the real-world experience of EV users in ways that aggregate statistics obscure. As industry reports acknowledge, the expansion is uneven, with a handful of states leading the charge whilst others lag dramatically behind, creating a fragmented landscape that impacts nationwide adoption.
The Numbers Behind the Narrative: Explosive Growth, Strategic Gaps
The Ministry of Power and Ministry of Heavy Industries report that India’s public EV charging network has expanded nearly six-fold in just three years, with government schemes allocating over ₹1,000 crore to address infrastructure gaps and alleviate the consumer range anxiety that historically deterred electric vehicle adoption. These initiatives have catalysed the installation of thousands of new stations, with ambitious targets of 72,000 to 88,500 additional charging points by 2030.
Despite this progress, the distribution of charging stations remains dramatically uneven across India’s vast geography. Karnataka leads with 5,880 stations, followed by Delhi, Maharashtra, and Gujarat—states that collectively account for the overwhelming majority of India’s charging infrastructure. Delhi, in particular, boasts the highest density, with one station per three square kilometres, creating an environment where range anxiety becomes largely theoretical for urban EV owners. However, states like Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal lag catastrophically behind, reflecting regional disparities that transform inter-state EV travel from routine to risky. This uneven deployment creates a chicken-and-egg problem: without charging infrastructure, EV adoption in these states remains suppressed, yet without demonstrated EV demand, private operators hesitate to invest in charging networks, perpetuating the infrastructure deficit.
The targets for 2030 appear ambitious on paper, yet achieving them requires not merely numerical expansion but strategic geographical distribution that addresses current imbalances. Simply adding charging points in already well-served metros whilst neglecting underserved regions would exacerbate rather than resolve the fragmentation threatening India’s EV ecosystem.
The Utilisation Paradox: Capacity Versus Accessibility
Utilisation patterns reveal stark differences across states that illuminate the infrastructure challenge’s true dimensions. Delhi leads decisively in electricity consumption for EV charging, accounting for 40.1% of the nation’s total, followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka. This concentration suggests that existing infrastructure in these states sees substantial usage, validating investment whilst simultaneously highlighting how dependent India’s EV charging ecosystem remains on a handful of markets.
The availability of public charging stations per capita varies wildly: Delhi maintains 8.8 stations per lakh people, Karnataka 8.4, and Goa 8.6, whilst Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Gujarat provide merely 2.9, 1.4, and 1.4 stations per lakh people respectively. These disparities underscore a critical challenge—whilst EV adoption accelerates nationally, charging infrastructure struggles to keep pace outside select states. On average, India maintains only one public charging station for every 235 electric vehicles—a ratio dramatically inferior to the global benchmark of one station per 6–20 EVs observed in mature markets. This gap translates into tangible user frustrations: long wait times at popular charging locations, difficulty finding available stations during peak hours, and persistent range anxiety that undermines the ownership experience EV manufacturers promise.
Leading analysts observe that whilst the growth proves impressive, the real challenge lies in ensuring that charging stations are not just numerous but also well-distributed and reliable. The concentration of infrastructure in metro cities, whilst rational from a commercial perspective, creates zones of confidence for EV ownership surrounded by vast expanses where electric mobility remains impractical.
Strategic Deployment: Bridging the Infrastructure Chasm
The rapid deployment of charging stations represents a significant achievement that shouldn’t be dismissed, yet formidable challenges remain that require strategic rather than merely numerical solutions. The uneven distribution and varying utilisation rates across regions highlight the need for targeted investments that prioritise underserved areas rather than reinforcing existing concentration patterns.
Additionally, the reliability and accessibility of charging points prove critical factors impacting user experience and adoption rates in ways that raw station counts don’t capture. A charging station that’s frequently non-operational, difficult to locate, or incompatible with certain vehicle models provides little practical value regardless of its presence in government statistics. Industry experts emphasise that bridging the infrastructure gap will prove crucial to sustaining the momentum of India’s EV revolution. The government’s focus on high-utility locations such as metro cities, toll plazas, and railway stations represents progress, creating charging corridors that enable longer-distance electric travel. However, substantially more investment is needed to address regional disparities and improve overall utilisation efficiency.
The challenge extends beyond mere infrastructure deployment to encompass payment systems, maintenance protocols, real-time availability information, and standardisation across charging networks. EV owners shouldn’t require multiple apps and accounts to access different charging networks—interoperability must become standard rather than aspirational. India’s public charging infrastructure is expanding rapidly, with the 29,277 operational stations representing genuine progress towards electric mobility. However, utilisation patterns and regional distribution reveal that headline numbers mask significant challenges requiring urgent attention.
Delhi‘s density of one station per three square kilometres demonstrates what’s achievable, yet Bihar and Jharkhand‘s scarcity illustrates how far most of India remains from that standard. Addressing these disparities will prove crucial to sustaining the country’s EV revolution momentum and ensuring a seamless, reliable charging experience for all users regardless of geography. The path forward demands not merely more charging stations but strategically located, reliably maintained, and equitably distributed infrastructure that transforms electric mobility from urban privilege into national reality—a transformation requiring sustained investment, coordinated planning, and recognition that India’s EV future depends on bridging the vast gulf between Delhi‘s charging abundance and Bihar‘s infrastructure poverty.