EV Charging for a Factory Fleet and Employee Parking: Load, Chargers and Approvals

Plan EV charging for a factory from the load, not the charger count. Work out how many vehicles charge, how much energy each needs and how long it stays, then set charger power so the day's energy fits the dwell time. Check the transformer and sanctioned load, use AC where vehicles park for hours, DC where turnaround is short, and settle metering before you order.

How do you assess the charging load?

Start with the vehicles, not the chargers. For each group (employee cars, two-wheelers, staff shuttles, delivery vans, trucks) write down the number of vehicles, the energy each needs to be charged per day, and the hours it is parked on site. Average power per vehicle is the energy divided by the dwell time. As an illustration of the arithmetic, not a site figure: 20 vehicles each needing 20 kWh over an eight-hour shift need 400 kWh, which is about 50 kW on average, before charger losses.

The average is not the peak. Employees plug in together at shift start, so the peak is nearer the number of simultaneous chargers times their rating, unless you manage the load. The Ministry of Power's guidelines define smart charging as optimising the charging process to grid constraints and renewable supply, and note that it reduces transformer overloading requirements. Load management is often the lowest-cost way to keep a charger bank inside the existing supply.

1. Total the simultaneous charging load, with the diversity you can defend.
2. Compare it with the transformer headroom and the sanctioned load or contract demand. Use measured maximum demand, not nameplate.
3. If the sum does not fit, choose between a load-management controller, phasing the chargers, a load enhancement application, or a transformer upgrade.

The EV charging load calculator runs the first pass and the factory electrical capacity calculator checks headroom. Our guide to EV charging retrofits and parking load explains why the tenth charger trips what the first did not.

Which charger types fit a factory?

The Ministry of Power's Guidelines for Installation and Operation of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure-2024, dated 17 September 2024, list charger classes and the BIS standards they follow. The table pairs those classes with where each tends to fit in a factory; the fit column is our reading, not the guideline's.

The guidelines name the IS 17017 series as the Indian standards for these chargers, and require equipment to be type-tested to them at an accredited laboratory, with a valid type-test certificate. Ask every bidder for that certificate by model, not by brand.

What do the safety regulations require?

The CEA Measures relating to Safety and Electric Supply Regulations, 2023 have a chapter for EV charging stations that applies on top of the general rules. Regulations 123 to 128 include these requirements:

• Separate protection against overload of the input and output supply, and each charging point supplied by its own dedicated sub-circuit with overcurrent protection forming part of a switchboard, with co-ordination of all protective devices.
• Socket outlets at least 800 millimetres above finished ground level; no cord extension sets, no adaptors between connector and vehicle inlet, no portable socket outlets for charging, and not more than five metres between charging point and vehicle during charging.
• A lightning protection system, an earth continuity monitoring system that disconnects supply if the earth to the vehicle becomes ineffective, and a protective device against uncontrolled reverse power flow from the vehicle.
• Four-core cable only for three-phase charging points; underground cables through the charging area avoided or at least one metre deep.
• Fire-retardant, halogen-free enclosures, a fire detection and alarm system as per the relevant standards, testing as per the manufacturer's instructions, and records kept for at least seven years.

The guidelines add a safety checklist: surge protection, fire safety equipment and weather protection. Most of this is design and cabling, which is where a factory's electrical contractor earns the approval.

How do metering, tariff and connection work?

The guidelines let a building or office owner take a separate metered connection with a dedicated EV charging tariff, or use the existing connection to charge employee vehicles, and apply for a higher load if needed. For EV charging stations the tariff is a single-part tariff, not above the average cost of supply until 31 March 2028, at 0.7 times that cost in solar hours (9 AM to 4 PM) and 1.3 times in the remaining hours. They also say each charging station must have separate metering, and that the distribution licensee may provide sub-metering for an EV charger behind an existing HT connection.

What applies to a captive factory fleet is a state matter. A fleet charged on the factory's own industrial connection pays that connection's tariff, and the time-of-day structure of your state still rewards daytime charging. Whether a dedicated EV tariff is available to a captive charging station, and whether billing employees per unit counts as a sale of electricity at your site, we have not verified for any state; ask your DISCOM and your state commission's order before you design the billing. The definition itself is clear: a captive charging station is an exclusive facility for vehicles owned or controlled by the station's owner, such as corporate entities and fleet owners.

Where does solar fit, and which approvals apply?

Employee vehicles are parked through the day, which is when a rooftop or carport array generates. The guidelines say charging stations may integrate solar energy and describe a solar carport as a dual-purpose structure that shelters vehicles and generates power, optionally with battery storage. Fleet vehicles that return at night and charge after the shift do not line up with solar without storage. Our guides to solar carports and EV charging and to carport solar cost and payback weigh the two.

The approvals to plan for are the DISCOM load-enhancement application if you exceed sanctioned load, the Electrical Inspector's inspection if the installation is above the notified voltage, and the fire service's view if the chargers sit in a covered or basement parking. See our guide to CEIG approval for factories.

How Secured Engineers helps

We run the load study first, design the dedicated EV distribution board and feeder, and install and commission the chargers you select, with the DISCOM load-enhancement and CEIG submissions prepared in-house. We deliver MEPF and solar under one contract, so the carport and the charging load are planned together. We work from offices in Noida (Delhi NCR) and Ludhiana, with 535+ projects across 18+ states and 89.77% repeat clients.

Send your vehicle list, the parking layout, twelve months of bills and the transformer rating, and we will review your charging plan and tell you whether the supply holds. See our EV charging installation page, message us on WhatsApp, call +91 70099 85817, or ask for a free proposal.