BPCL will invest Rs 200 crore on fast EV charging corridors

Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) has announced that it will invest Rs 200 crore to ramp up electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in India. This was confirmed by BPCL Executive Director for Retail, BS Ravi, who said that BPCL will set up 100 fast electric vehicle charging corridors having 2,000 stations along the busiest 100 national highways this fiscal.

BPCL had launched its first electric vehicle charging corridor in January, 2022, on the Chennai-Trichi-Madurai highway. Now BPCL says that the second EV charging corridor will be established along the Kochi-Salem part of NH-47. This will be done in two months from here. The third corridor is expected to come on Mumbai-Bengaluru highway with multiple charging units because of high traffic on it.

BPCL informed that a charging unit that doesn’t require a booster transformer will cost Rs7-12 lakh to be set up and will have rest rooms, refreshments, food court etc. It said that a unit that will need a transformer could cost even Rs 25 lakh. BPCL plans to install about 7,000 fast EV charging stations in India by 2025 fiscal.

BS Ravi added, “Given this cost variance, we have budgeted for around Rs 200 crore investment this fiscal as we plan to set up as many as 2,000 fast charging stations across 100 corridors by March 2023.”

BPCL says that the electric vehicle ecosystem will grow faster than forecasted and it wants to play a big role in the gamut. As per BS Ravi, BPCL will seek incentives from the Central Government or the State Governments because in the initial stages of India’s EV journey, low footfall of EVs in charging stations will render them commercially unviable.

Conventional automakers and oil companies are foraying into EV charging infrastructure to ensure a smooth ride for  EV demand in India. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will open 22,000 EV charging stations in 3-5 years. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has also announced plans for 5,000 charging stations. Similarly, Reliance Industries has teamed up with BP to offer EV charging and battery swapping facilities.