Bharat Petroleum Will Spend Rs 200 Crore To Set Up 2000 Fast Charging Stations Across 100 Busiest Highways

BPCL will invest around Rs 200 crore this fiscal to set up 100 fast electric vehicles (EVs) charging corridors.

Second Corridor In Two Months

The investment will go towards setting up 2,000 stations along the busiest 100 national highways.

The public sector oil marketing company recently inaugurated its first EV charging corridor along the Chennai-Trichi-Madurai highway with one charging unit.

The second corridor on the Kochi-Salem section of National Highway 47 will be complete within the next two months.

Charging Unit Without Booster Transformer

BPCL executive director for retail B S Ravi said that in case a charging unit does not need a booster transformer, it would be turned into a full-fledged centre offering rest rooms, refreshments/food court, among other amenities.

It can be ready at a cost varying from ? 7-12 lakh, and if the unit needs a transformer then the cost will go up to ? 25 lakh.

He informed that given this cost variance, around ? 200 crore investment has been budgeted to set up as many as 2,000 fast charging stations across 100 corridors by March 2023.

Long-Term Plans

For the long-term, the company intends to have 7,000 fast EV charging stations by 2024-25.

The third corridor will most probably be the Mumbai-Bengaluru National Highway 4, and will have multiple units as the highway has amongst the highest traffic.

BPCL is hoping that the EV ecosystem grows faster than earlier forecasts and wants to play a big role in setting up the basic infrastructure for this ambitious drive.

Seeking Incentives

The government will provide sops to push domestic manufacturing and sales of electric vehicles.

BPCL will seek some incentives from the Centre or the state government as the charging stations will not be commercially viable in the initial stages due to low footfall.