Finland’s Fortum Oyj eyes business opportunity in EV stations in India  

India's drive towards achieving full electro-mobility by the year 2030 is now drawing attention from global EV industry stakeholders. Fortum Oyj, a leading Finnish clean energy company in which the government of Finland owns 50.8 percent, has signed an MoU with NBCC (India), a Navratna government of India enterprise under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, for developing charging infrastructure across India in all upcoming NBCC construction projects.

As a first step, Fortum has installed one 22 KW AC charger on a pilot basis in New Moti Bagh Colony, New Delhi maintained by NBCC, which is to be operated using Fortum’s cloud-based system. The charging station was inaugurated by Finland’s minister for Housing, Energy and the Environment, Kimmo Tiilikainen in the presence of Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, government of India and Dr Anoop Kumar Mittal, CMD, NBCC.

The charger, which is equipped with OCPP 1.5 and a GPRS communication system, is of IP54 Class making it suitable to be operated outdoors in AC mode. It has two charging points which will enable two EVs to be charged simultaneously. The charging station can be operated using RFID or mobile app using the Fortum cloud system. It also has the ability to be operated remotely.

Fortum Charge & Drive has a network of 1,480 smart chargers in Europe out of which 500 are DC quick chargers. Its ‘Charge & Drive’ aims to respond to an increasing global demand in e-mobility, by providing a turnkey solution for B2B and B2G, creating a public charging network as well as providing world-class cloud solutions for an interactive end-user interface and a comprehensive back-end system that supports charge point operators in the remote management of charging stations.

L-R: Kimmo Tiilikainen, Minister for Housing, Energy and the Environment, Finland and Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, inaugurate Fortum’s pilot charging station.

The MoU was signed by Arto Räty, senior VP, Corporate Affairs & Communications of Fortum, and Yogesh Sharma, executive director from NBCC. The MoU covers all major activities from planning and designing to making the investment and operating the infrastructure using a cloud-based system.

Kimmo Tiilikainen said, “India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. While the rapid growth puts a strain on the environment, it also opens extensive opportunities. The technological expertise of Finnish companies can be leveraged to support the sustainable development of the Indian economy and energy sector. We are really happy to see Finnish companies bringing in their best technology and solutions to India.”

Fortum Oyj’s Arto Raty added, “India is an important market for us. Fortum is a pioneer in providing charging solutions to electric vehicles. Solutions with reliable hardware and software as well as responsive customer support are crucial to the end user experience. We have developed Fortum Charge & Drive to meet these demands, paving the way for the more widespread and efficient use of electric vehicles.”

“Currently, India has about 6,000 electric cars operational and keeping in mind the Indian government’s target to have only e-vehicles by 2030, Fortum has ventured in India making it the first country outside Europe in the Charge & Drive space. The plans include developing charging infrastructure along with the cloud-based system (SAAS). Starting with this pilot in New Delhi, we plan to roll out more than 150 charging stations over a period of next 12-18 months,” said Sanjay Aggarwal, MD, Fortum India during the launch of the pilot program. 

Indian companies too are foraying into the EV charging infrastructure domain and in August, Tata Power, India’s largest integrated power company, installed and inaugurated its first EV charging station in Mumbai at the Tata Power Receiving Station at Vikhroli, Mumbai.

The abject lack of an adequate EV charging infrastructure across the country has been among the reasons that are hampering the growth of the EV sector. Adoption of a smart charging infrastructure is absolutely critical if India is to achieve its ambitious plan of mass scale shift to EVs by 2030.