Harmony Direct 2.0: Redefining EV Charging Reliability

India’s electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure is expanding at a record pace. From just 1,800 public charging stations in February 2022, to 29,277 in May 2025, the network has seen a 16X growth in just over 3 years. This growth is matched by booming EV sales, which jumped from 16.8 lakh in FY 2024 to 19.6 lakh in FY 2025, driven by conducive policies, rising consumer awareness, and a new generation of affordable EV models. The government’s PM E-DRIVE scheme alone aims to add over 22,000 fast chargers for 4-wheelers and nearly 50,000 for 2 and 3 wheelers in the coming years, reflecting a clear national commitment to electric mobility1.This makes it arguably the best time to invest in the EV charging business.

While the numbers look impressive on paper, there is a doubt on reliability among consumers. Addressing this is necessary as it directly impacts both revenue and reputation of a CPO in particular, and EV adoption in general.
This is the first in a blog series where you will understand the importance of reliability in EV charging, the correct definition, and the steps CPOs can take to improve it.

The importance of reliability in public EV charging, measured in numbers

Take a view of the following numbers:

Field studies have indicated that around 20% of public DC fast chargers are non-functional due to either lack of user education, payment failures, software glitches or rarely technical faults.
The Idaho National Laboratory’s 2023 report says that 7% EV charging attempts don’t succeed despite correct plug-ins.
Harvard’s AI-driven analysis, conducted over 1 million EV charging reviews, reveals that a probability of 20% is there in EV charging sessions failing.
Nature’s user experience research demonstrates that a good chunk of negative reviews about public charging stations are about technical faults with EV chargers, which in turn turned about to be reported from unreliable sources.

These numbers and the varied interpretations of reporting raises an important question for you: Why is there a confusion and lack of clarity regarding the term ‘reliability’ among EV users and CPOs? If we allow this confusion to permeate, then the EV charging infrastructure as a whole would never be able to assess, deduce and grow itself properly. Because from a CPO’s perspective, reliability might be ‘charger uptime’, and from a consumer’s it might be ‘successful charging session’.
Hence, it is very important that this confusion is solved here and once for all.
So how do we define and quantify reliability for a public EV charger? Is it the same as uptime?

The definition and debate between Reliability and Uptime

It’s essential to clarify the core concepts that determine the success of a charging network, for a CPO to be able to make the correct investment decisions. What do we really mean by reliability, and is it the same as uptime?

Reliability:
Reliability is officially defined as the percentage of successful charging sessions out of total attempts. A charger is reliable if it can consistently deliver energy to a vehicle whenever a user initiates a session.

The US National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, a global benchmark, mandates a minimum reliability score of 97%, meaning 97 out of every 100 charging attempts must succeed. Currently, this number is at 78%.

This metric ideally should have been the same as the uptime of an EV charger. But it isn’t. Why?

Uptime:

This refers to the % time out of total operational hours that a charger is plugged in, connected to the network and is ‘ready to charge’. But ready to charge doesn’t always translate to a successful charge.

A charger with uninterrupted power supply that remains switched on 24 hours a day has 100% uptime. But if it’s unable to deliver a charge in 30 out of 100 attempts, due to a fault in its cable, its reliability is only 70%. On the other hand, if power supply fails in 10% of operational time, but all charging attempts are successful while the charger is online, both reliability and uptime are 90%. This is where the disconnect between reliability and uptime arises – in undetected faults.

Ultimately, it’s reliability that impacts the quality of service the most. As EV adoption grows, reliability, along with user-centric elements, will increasingly differentiate successful CPOs from the rest.

So, how can CPOs ensure their investments yield both profitability and customer loyalty in this rapidly evolving market?

How Can CPOs bridge the reliability gap?

The answer lies in adopting advanced remote monitoring and predictive maintenance systems.

By using an EV charger equipped with real-time remote monitoring, CPOs can:

Receive instant alerts for technical malfunctions for every component, often before a user is affected.

Leverage predictive maintenance to address issues proactively, reducing emergency repairs and unplanned downtime.

Analyse usage patterns like peak hours, driver behavior and charging modes to optimize asset deployment and maintenance schedules.

According to the International Energy Agency, networks with robust remote monitoring and maintenance achieve reliability rates above 97%, compared to 73-85% for networks without these systems. Predictive maintenance can reduce emergency repair costs by up to 30% and extend charger lifespan by 20%, directly boosting profitability.

As India’s EV charging landscape matures, the EV industry needs to move beyond simply counting stations. The focus must shift to reliability: measured by successful charging sessions. Only by prioritizing real-world performance can CPOs ensure both profitability and user satisfaction. The next phase of India’s EV journey will belong to those who build networks that users can trust, every single time they plug in.

For CPOs, the message is clear: invest in systems and processes that guarantee successful charging sessions, not just operational hours. Profitability and public trust will follow.

In this evolving environment, solutions that offer real-time diagnostics, predictive maintenance, and actionable user insights are quietly setting new benchmarks for reliability, helping CPOs deliver the seamless charging experience that today’s EV users expect. If reliability is your concern, then we highly recommend Exicom’s Harmony Direct 2.0.

In our upcoming must-read blog next week, we will take a deep dive into station economics and how it can help CPOs in scalability.

Bibliography

Research Reports & Government Publications

Academic & Peer-Reviewed Research

Industry, News, and Market Analysis

Ownership

99% EV charger uptime doesn’t guarantee continuous profits for CPOs. This will.

The importance of reliability in public EV charging, measured in numbers

The definition and debate between Reliability and Uptime

How Can CPOs bridge the reliability gap?

Bibliography

Frequent questions