India needs ‘UPI for EVs’. Digital infrastructure key to electrification

Anuraag Nallapaneni, programme lead at the World Resources Institute of India, opened the panel discussion at Delhi’s India Habitat Centre with a question. “Is today’s EV scaling held up by infrastructure, financing, or coordination challenges?” he asked the panellists. Public charging infrastructure India’s EV charging points have often faced the same problem that lampposts once did—they get stolen when no one is paying attention. However, even with better surveillance, setting up charging infrastructure is a complicated task. “You can’t just set up charging stations anywhere. You have to crunch movement data, study mobility patterns, find space and grid availability,” said…