APAC is 'charging up' fast as India spices up EV growth

The non-stop growth in the electric vehicle (EV) market of the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region was boosted following the pandemic period, the crisis providing all the excuses for the EV industry to take advantage to switch to alternative energy vehicles, led by China and India.

As a result, the more complex EV charging infrastructure also witnessed a rapid expansion, thanks to the strong local and international players in the field and the exploding demand from an enormous consumer market. 

In China, EV sales saw an 87% year-on-year growth in 2022 and almost doubled, driven by the significant players including BYD, Tesla, GM Group, Geely Holding and GAC Group. In 2023, the country expects to see around 8 million EV sales, according to Counterpoint. EV sales exceeded the one million line in India for the first time in 2022, witnessing a striking 206% year-on-year growth, according to EVreporter. 

As a result, the APAC EV charging market is expected to reach a $173.9bn value by 2032, according to Global Market Insights. 

Such enormous amounts are not surprising, as China and India have a total population of over 2.8bn people and already competing fiercely in the electric mobility market, especially in electric two-wheelers. 

Yet, China is the dominant player in APAC and Europe, working tirelessly to expand its local EV charging infrastructure to feed 20m EVs by 2025. 

What is driving the growth? 

Wrapped with solid government regulations to lower emissions, the appetite towards high-performance battery-powered vehicles has increased continuously, strengthened by the decreasing battery costs and advanced technologies introduced through connectivity. 

• China provides subsidies for battery suppliers and regulations to consolidate small manufacturers to increase EV battery production and competition. 
• India plans to reduce the goods and sales tax (GST) on EVs from 12% to 5% to boos the adaption of battery-powered vehicles. To strengthen the local EV market and competition, the Indian government also issued 15% customs on EV parts and 10% on lithium-ion cells used in EV batteries.
• The Indian government want the share of EVs to reach 30% of private cars and 70% of commercial vehicles, and 80% of the two-wheelers by 2030. 
• Japan aims to reduce the cost of batteries through the Green Growth Strategy and supports manufacturers to utilise EV battery minerals to avoid waste entirely. 
• Australia has placed developing a fast-charging network among its top priorities over the next five years, as EV sales are expected to account for at least 70% of new vehicle sales by 2040. 
• New Zealand plans to fund the projects on developing fast-charging networks with 12m dollars, including improving battery technologies to support the planned infrastructure.

Electric mobility is also sweeping APAC, promoting battery-swapping technology across the region, with Gogoro being the leader through 12,000 battery-swapping stations in nine countries. 

Major players in the market 

The APAC EV charging market is rich with local and international players, mainly grouped as EV charging service providers and OEMs.

Some of the recent developments announced by some of the companies above are as follows: 

• Tata Power and Hyundai announced a strategic partnership in May 2022 to enhance the EV charging infrastructure in India. 
• According to Moodys, Tata Motors, dominating the EV battery market in India with an 85% share by 2022, also installed 4,300 charging stations by the same year. 
• At the Asia Pacific EV Charging Infrastructure 2023 Conference, Shell announced that the global EV charging network tripled in the last three years, reaching 140,000. The energy giant aims to reach 500,000 global charging points by 2025.
• Tesla, which is building a second factory in China to reach a yearly 1 million sales target, also aims to produce 10,000 Megapack units a year to provide around 40-GW hours of energy storage. 
• Tesla is also expanding its Supercharging network across Beijing and Shanghai; according to TechCrunch (TC), 120 destination charge points in 25 provinces will be fully integrated with non-Tesla vehicles. The US EV giant operates 1,600 Supercharging stations in China and more than 700 destination charging points. 
• According to TC, around 37 models will be compatible with Tesla Superchargers, including Aiways, BMW, Porsche, BYD, Dongfeng, Ford, Geely, Zeekr, Polestar, Nio, Volvo, and XPeng. 
• Xpeng Motors expanding its charging stations across China, announced a partnership with LongShine Technology Group in 2022 to establish data interconnection with supercharging stations, being part of a nationwide charging network in China. 
• MG Motors India, having established 1,000 fast chargers across India by the end of 2022, announced a partnership with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) the same year to expand charging infrastructure in the country. 

One exciting fact announced at the APAC EV Charging Infrastru 2023 Conference was about China, installing 300,000 charging outlets in 2022 and outpacing the entire public charging network of the US. 

Demand for EV charging is expected to reach 53 billion kW/h by 2030, representing a 20-fold increase, says McKinsey. China, now even a more fierce competitor thanks to India, is eager to lead the development of charging infrastructure in APAC, and all signs are positive for global leadership. 

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