India's EV Charging Landscape
The global transition to clean energy is gathering pace, but financing solar at scale remains one of the toughest challenges. Africa, with some of the world’s richest solar resources, is also where this gap is most pronounced. Projects are abundant, but capital often hesitates - citing risks, fragmentation, and lack of bankable structures.
The story of Nuru Energy in the Democratic Republic of Congo makes the same point. Despite having strong investor backing - including global names in climate and impact finance - the project struggled to move forward. The issue wasn’t capital scarcity, but the lack of affordable risk mitigation solution that could de-risk investments and accelerate execution.
Across Africa, this story repeats itself. Despite the continent’s vast solar potential and more than 660 million people lacking stable access to electricity, Africa today accounts for just ~1% of global installed solar capacity and receives less than 1% of global solar investment.
This is where the Global Solar Facility (GSF) comes in. Conceived with the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and structured by ProsperETÉ, the facility was designed to do more than finance a few projects. It was built to be a global blueprint: starting in Africa, but ready to be replicated across Asia, Latin America, and other emerging regions. The guiding principle throughout was simple - think scale, manage risk, and execute with discipline.
Market Structure and Opportunity
The market will grow dramatically across three segments: charger manufacturing (USD 0.7 billion in FY24 to USD 10.5 billion by FY30), charging services (USD 0.3 billion to USD 10.0 billion), and charger management systems (USD 0.6 billion to USD 1.5 billion). Currently, 90% of passenger EV charging happens at home in India. While over 75% of consumers believe the country lacks sufficient charge points, existing public chargers suffer from critically low utilization, averaging around 2%.
Charger Manufacturing
India's charger output jumped from under 25,000 units in 2020 to over 350,000 in 2024—a 180% compound annual growth rate. Key players including Exicom, Tata Power-TACO, Delta Electronics, ABB, and Servotech account for over 75% of India's chargers in service. Exicom commands 60% market share in residential chargers and 25% in public chargers.
Critical challenges include localization—most 120 kW-plus DC chargers are fully imported, while 50-60 kW units are assembled with 60-70% imported components. Quality remains a concern, with over 10% of chargers non-operational at any given time.
Charge Point Operators: The Utilization Crisis
India needs an estimated 1.3 million chargers by FY30. Major players include Tata Power EZ Charge (4,200 charge points), Adani TotalEnergies (3,400+ chargers), Indian Oil (10,057 pumps with chargers), and Statiq (7,000 chargers).
The central challenge is critically low utilization. Studies show 33% of CCS2 connectors and 43%+ of Type 2 connectors were non-functional. At 2% utilization, CPOs face -69% EBITDA margins. Break-even requires 5% utilization, while viable economics need 12% or higher. Fleet-focused CPOs achieve 20-25% capacity factors through predictable demand and depot-based models. Regulatory constraints cap service fees at INR 3-4 for AC chargers and INR 11-13 for DC chargers, forcing CPOs to absorb costs within tight revenue ceilings.
6. A Blueprint Beyond Africa
While Africa is the starting point, the GSF was never meant to stop there. Its structure is deliberately replicable. The same blended finance model, governance design, and project pipeline approach can be applied in Asia, Latin America, and Small Island States.
In this sense, the GSF is more than a fund - it is a financing model for the global energy transition, one that takes lessons from Africa facility and scales them worldwide.
Conclusion: Scale Meets Structure
ProsperETÉ’s journey with the Global Solar Facility is not a one-off project but part of a larger legacy. Over the years, our team has successfully set up eight investment and financing platforms — from India’s first infrastructure-focused fund with SBI Macquarie to pioneering programs such as Scaling Solar Africa. Each initiative reinforced a core belief: when scale meets structure, and risk meets resilience, global capital flows to climate solutions.
The Global Solar Facility embodies this belief — starting in Africa, but with the potential to transform solar investment across the world.