The Net-Zero Transition Starts at Home

India’s EV transition is accelerating, but most homes are not yet ready to charge safely. The Net-Zero Transition Starts at Home report, jointly produced by AEEE and Kazam, examines the hidden barriers preventing safe, reliable, and scalable residential EV charging in India. Drawing on one of the country’s largest real-world datasets, comprising more than 80,000 residential charger installations and supplemented by technician field surveys, consumer interviews, and stakeholder consultations, the report maps the technical, structural, legal, social, and economic constraints that prevent millions of EV users from charging safely at home. It proposes a National Residential EV Readiness Framework, defines what an EV-ready home must include across diverse housing typologies, and sets out a policy roadmap covering building bye-laws, utility processes, targeted financial support, and workforce upskilling. Designed for policymakers, urban planners, utilities, housing developers, vehicle and charger OEMs, civil society, and consumers, the report makes the case that India’s EV ambitions will only be realised when home readiness keeps pace with vehicle adoption.
Key Insights from the Report
- Analysis of more than 80,000 real-world installations, representing one of India’s largest operational residential charging datasets, finds that nearly 45% of homes require electrical upgrades before EV charging can be undertaken safely. The most common issues, including breaker trips, socket burn, and earthing faults, are infrastructure failures that are routinely misattributed to the charger itself.
- Residential EV charging is constrained by five interconnected barriers: technical gaps in earthing, wiring, and voltage stability; structural and spatial constraints in apartments and informal housing; fragmented legal and governance frameworks; social and behavioural resistance rooted in awareness gaps and collective decision-making within housing societies; and economic barriers that disproportionately affect renters and low-income households.
- The report defines EV readiness across four pillars: power supply readiness, electrical infrastructure safety and compliance, charging access and housing readiness, and certified EVSE and equipment readiness. These are consolidated into a practical EV Readiness Matrix, accompanied by recommendations and targeted actions for policymakers, DISCOMs, housing developers, RWAs, OEMs, and civil society.