India’s TVS Motor (a leading manufacturer of two-wheelers and three-wheelers) has partnered with Tata Power (an electric utility company, part of the Tata Group) to deploy large electric two-wheeler charging infrastructure across India. There are also plans to deploy solar power technologies at certain locations.

So what?

The electric mobility sector in India is set to grow greatly in the coming decade. This partnership, between a manufacturer of electric vehicle and an electric utility company, seeks to build the infrastructure necessary to power the transition to electric vehicles. We will likely see more partnerships between the various actors (manufacturers, utility companies, energy distributors) as the government pushes forward with its goal of greatly increasing the percentage of electric vehicles in the automobile sector.

Is the current electricity grid capable of meeting the demands of the many charging stations that will pop up to power the mobility transition? Will the location and capacity of charging stations need to take in account the capacity and reliability of the grid at each locale? These questions will likely become more important as electric mobility scales up, and so consideration of these factors at the present moment might allow for a smoother transition in the future.