Opinion | India’s EV Revolution Starts In The Basement

Public charging stations get most of the attention. But for millions of urban Indians, the more consequential question is whether they can charge a car where it spends the night.

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In 2025, a resident of a housing complex in Greater Noida sought permission to install an electric-vehicle charger in his allotted parking space. He offered to bear the installation cost himself. According to his petition, the complex had around 55 EV owners but only two shared charging points. After months without approval, he approached the Supreme Court, which issued notice to the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh Government.

It looks like a dispute between a resident and a housing society. In fact, it points to an infrastructure problem India will encounter much more frequently as electric-car ownership grows.

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India has concentrated policy attention on the visible parts of the EV transition: vehicle subsidies, battery manufacturing and public charging stations. As of 7th August, 2026, 67,657 EV chargers had been installed across India, including 1,139 chargers at battery-swapping stations. PM E-DRIVE has separately allocated ₹2,000 crore for public charging infrastructure.

Public chargers are essential, particularly for long-distance journeys and drivers without dedicated parking. But they are not necessarily the primary charging model for private cars. An EV differs from a petrol car in one important respect. It does not need a separate trip to refuel if it can charge while parked. The International Energy Agency describes home charging as the preferred option where available because of its convenience and lower cost. Of roughly 150 million charging points it expects to be added worldwide between 2025 and 2030, almost two-thirds are projected to be home chargers.

For urban India, therefore, the parking space itself is becoming part of the charging network. In an independent house, connecting that space to electricity is relatively straightforward. In a multi-storey apartment complex, it is not.

The Charger Is Easy. The Apartment Is Difficult.

Technically, slow residential charging is not especially complicated, and India’s electricity rules have already moved considerably in this direction.

The Ministry of Power’s 2024 Guidelines for Installation and Operation of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure apply explicitly to private parking spaces and group housing societies. Residents can use existing electricity connections, seek additional sanctioned load or obtain separate connections where required.

Building policy has also anticipated EV adoption. In 2019, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs amended the Model........

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