EV Charging ROI Calculator

engine v2.2.0
Scenario
Review with an advisor
ACTION NEEDED

Below your required return, and capital recovery depends entirely on an UNSECURED month-60 buyback — renegotiate terms and demand security before proceeding.

Indicative result — material assumptions remain unverified (0/4 diligence items confirmed). Complete the verification checklist in step 5 before circulating this case.

Decision detailoperational, investment and bankability sub-verdicts behind the headline

  • CAUTIONInvestment verdict: Renegotiate — below your 12% required return (NPV -₹3.13 L, IRR 9.12%). Ask for a higher guarantee, lower entry price, or stronger terminal terms.
  • OKOperational verdict: Underlying station is profitable over the term (₹63.86 L operating cash).
  • ACTION NEEDEDKey dependency: Capital recovery depends ENTIRELY on the month-60 buyback (36% of total cash). Do not sign without security for it (escrow, bank guarantee, or deposit).
  • OKFranchisor capacity: Station cash funds everything promised to the investor 1.20x over.

The numbers

Investment (incl. GST)
₹39.90 L
₹38.00 L + 5% GST
Monthly income (avg)
₹57,000
Cash yield 17.1% p.a.
Buyback (contractual)
₹19.00 L
50% of ₹38.00 L
Total cash received
₹53.20 L
₹34.20 L payouts + terminal
Net profit
₹13.30 L
Total ROI
33.33%
MOIC 1.333x
Annualized IRR (XIRR)
9.12%
Real (after 5% inflation): 3.92%
Payback (incl. terminal)
5 yr
From income alone: Not recovered · NPV @ 12%: -₹3.13 L

Monthly cash — franchisee

Cumulative investor cash & payback

Includes the terminal payment in the final month.

The working

Reconciliation passing means the arithmetic is consistent — it does not mean the investment is attractive. Judge those under their own headings.

Input validity

  • ⚠Indicative result — material assumptions remain unverified (0/4 diligence items confirmed in the verification checklist).

Investor attractiveness

  • ⚠NPV at the 12% required return is NEGATIVE (-₹3.13 L) — this deal is below your own hurdle rate. Renegotiate terms or lower the hurdle deliberately.
  • ⚠Annualized IRR (9.12%) is below the required return of 12%.
  • ⚠Monthly income alone never recovers the investment — payback (month 60) depends ENTIRELY on the terminal buyback being honoured.

Bankability & counterparty

  • ⚠Unsecured counterparty promise valued at 100% recovery: ₹19.00 L (36% of total cash) rests on the franchisor honouring the terminal payment with no security and no default risk assumed. Enter a default probability and/or security backing to see the credit-adjusted view.
Assumption sources & disclaimers
  • Ministry of Power — Guidelines for Installation and Operation of EV Charging Infrastructure (2024) — PCS supply tariff capped at Average Cost of Supply (ACoS) until 31 Mar 2028. Illustrative solar-hour tariff 0.7×ACoS, non-solar 1.3×ACoS. Service charge ceilings ₹3/₹4 per kWh (AC, solar/non-solar) and ₹11/₹13 per kWh (DC, solar/non-solar). Public-land revenue share reference ₹1/kWh. [verified]
  • Illustrative national ACoS reference (~₹7/kWh) — Actual ACoS varies by state/DISCOM (~₹6–9/kWh). The state tariff order selected by the user must override this. [estimated]
  • TGERC FY 2026–27 Tariff Schedule — LT-IX EV charging stations — LT-IX EV charging energy charge ₹6/kWh. The model's electricity-tariff input should be the LANDED cost per grid kWh (energy charge + fixed/demand charges + duty), which is typically above the bare energy charge — enter your DISCOM bill's effective rate. [verified]
  • Site-type utilization benchmarks (internal advisory estimates) — Urban 15%, highway 12%, mall 18%, office 20%, fuel station 15%, fleet depot 35%, bus/truck hub 40%, destination 10% — internal advisory estimates, NOT measured industry data. Validate against local operating stations before relying on them. [estimated]
  • Reference franchise acceptance case (320 kW cluster DC) — ₹38,00,000 ex-GST + 5% GST; 60-month term; ₹57,000/month minimum guarantee; 22,800 kWh/month threshold; ₹2.60/kWh excess-unit rate; 50% buyback after 5 years; maintenance included. [user_supplied]

Indicative model for preliminary discussion only. Projections are not guaranteed returns; only terms in a signed agreement are contractual. State/DISCOM tariff orders override policy defaults. GST treatment, subsidies and taxes require professional review. Full formulas, scenario multipliers and version history →

Want this verified against a real site?

Every figure here rests on assumptions you can edit. A paid diagnostic replaces them with measured traffic, a DISCOM load check and verified land status.

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About this EV charging ROI calculator

This is a project-finance model for EV charging stations in India, not a payback estimator. It runs two commercial structures on one decimal-arithmetic engine (v2.2.0), unit-tested and golden-tested against a real reference case, and it publishes its formulas rather than asking you to trust them.

What it models

What it reports

Where the assumptions come from

The Ministry of Power's 2024 charging-infrastructure guidelines cap the supply tariff to a public charging station at the Average Cost of Supply until 31 March 2028, and cap the service charge you may add — so your margin per unit has a ceiling and the only lever you fully control is how many units you sell. State tariff orders override national defaults in every case; the Telangana LT-IX schedule ships as a worked preset.

Site-type utilisation benchmarks are internal advisory estimates, not measured industry data, and are labelled as such wherever they appear. Scenarios re-run the whole engine on adjusted inputs; they never scale the outputs.

Every formula, convention, scenario multiplier and source is published on the model methodology page, so any number here can be traced and challenged.

Common questions

Is this EV charging ROI calculator free?
Yes. The headline result is free and complete with no sign-up: the decision verdict, CFADS-based DSCR, IRR, payback and the model checks all run in your browser. The Pro tier adds the sensitivity view, side-by-side scenario comparison and the Excel export — it does not unlock a better answer, only more ways to look at the same one.
What is the difference between the ownership and franchise models?
They answer different questions. Ownership means you build and operate the station, so you carry demand risk and earn the margin between what you sell a unit for and what it costs you landed. Franchise means you fund a station somebody else operates against a promised payout, so your exposure is largely counterparty risk — whether those payments and the buyback actually arrive. The calculator models both, and never mixes them.
Which DSCR does the model use?
CFADS-based DSCR — cash flow available for debt service, defined as EBITDA less cash taxes less replacement capex, divided by interest plus principal. Subsidy and input tax credit are treated as restricted and excluded from CFADS. The broader EBITDA-based DSCR is shown alongside it as a labelled secondary measure, because it flatters the project and is not the number a lender works from.
Why does my vendor's projection look better than this one?
Usually utilisation. A quotation is commonly built on a fixed hours-per-day basis that the site has not been shown to deliver, and small changes there move the result more than anything else in the model. This calculator asks you for the ramp you can defend, and the sensitivity view shows which drivers actually move the return.
What utilisation should I assume?
Use your own evidence where you have it. The site-type benchmarks offered as presets are internal advisory estimates, not measured industry data, and they are labelled that way in the tool and in the source list. Treat them as a starting point to argue with, not a figure to submit.
Can I use this output for a bank loan application?
It is the right place to test whether a project is fundable before you spend anything, and the model checks flag where a result is indicative because material assumptions are still unverified. A lender will ask for a Detailed Project Report rather than a calculator output, so treat this as the screen that decides whether preparing one is worth it.

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Nothing here is investment or tax advice. Independent review by a project-finance and a tax professional is recommended before any large commitment, and a lender's own credit policy governs its decision in every case.