The State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), a Fortune Global 500 company, which has committed itself to setting up 7,000 EV charging stations across the country, today rolled out CCS-2 DC Fast chargers at 10 of its conveniently located fuel stations along the 900-km highway linking the cities of Chennai-Trichy-Madurai in Tamil Nadu. Today's first-phase launch is to be followed up by key routes which have high motor traffic and a propensity for transition to travel by electric vehicles.
The 'Maharatna' company is accelerating its focus on converting conventional fuel retail outlets into energy stations providing multiple fuelling options, which will also include EV charging facility, in the medium to long term.
Having conveniently located EV charging stations will further speed up the adoption of electric vehicles in the country.
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BPCL to speed up its transition
As we said, BPCL has planned to provide CCS-2 Electric Vehicle charging stations (EVCS) at its fuel stations at periodic intervals on all major national highways connecting major cities to boost inter-city travel on EVs. BPCL has more than 19,000 fuel filling stations across India, plans to provide EV charging facilities in 40% of those stations.
Speaking at the launch at its state of the art fuel station at Meenambakkam in Chennai, P S Ravi, Executive Director In-charge (Retail), BPCL said, "We are committed to accelerating the transition to cleaner energy and today’s launch of 10 CCS-2 EV fast charging stations in our large format fuel stations on the Chennai - Trichy - Madurai national highway, each at a distance of around 100 kms, is a beginning in our quest to eliminate range anxiety amongst existing and future 4-wheeler EV owners in the country."
Another government-backed petro enterprise Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has said that it would have charging stations at 10,000 of its petrol and diesel outlets across India. Both IOC and BPCL have set themselves a target of three years to accomplish these lofty goals.
The EV ecosystem in India is expected to experience a robust growth in the coming years in India as auto manufacturers turn to electric vehicles to attract new consumers. Companies manufacturing charging stations for electric vehicles are witnessing an increase in demand including from --- wait for it --- representatives of apartment complexes. Resident welfare associations (RWAs) claim that a good chunk of their residents own EVs and can use an exclusive charging station.
The Indian government has also eased the policies around setting up public EV charging stations.
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