BPCL to set up 100 EV charging corridors with 2,000 stations along 100 busiest national highways

Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) will be investing ₹200 crore this fiscal to set up 100 fast electric vehicles (EV) charging corridors with 2,000 stations along the busiest 100 national highways, the company announced on Wednesday. Bharat Petroleum has recently opened its first EV charging corridor along the Chennai-Trichi-Madurai highway with one charging unit. Another corridor is likely to come up on the Kochi-Salem section of the National Highway 47. 

BPCL executive director for retail B S Ravi told news agency PTI, “In case a charging unit does not need a booster transformer, such a unit which will be a full-fledged centre offering rest rooms, refreshments/food court, among other amenities 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.”

"Given this cost variance, we have budgeted for around ₹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," Ravi said.

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

The company has a plan to set up 7,000 fast EV charging stations by FY25. However, the official did not divulge any investment details.

Ravi asserted that BPCL with close to 30% retail market in petrol and diesel, hopes that the EV ecosystem will grow faster than forecast earlier, and the company wants to play a big role in setting up the basic infrastructure for this ambitious drive.

The government has also announced sops to push domestic manufacturing and sales of electric vehicles.

Ravi said his company will also seek some incentives from the Centre or the state government as the charging stations will not be commercially viable due to low footfalls in the initial stage.

(With inputs from agencies)