BPCL in talks with e-2w-makers to share outlets for charging stations

BPCL is planning to invest Rs 1,400 crore for four-wheeler EV facilities at 7,000 outlets

Divestment-bound Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) is in talks with two original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the electric two-wheeler segment to set up charging stations at their retail outlets across the country.

The company is also planning to invest around Rs 1,400 crore to add four-wheeler EV charging facilities at around 7,000 or 36 per cent of its retail outlets by 2024, a top company official told Business Standard. On Thursday, the company launched India's first EV fast-charging corridor on Chennai – Trichy – Madurai highway, with the rollout of DC fast chargers at 10 fuel stations along the 900 Km route on both sides of the highway.

"We are planning to add 1000 more retail outlets with charging facilities for four-wheelers by the end of this year and increase it to 7,000 by 2024 with an investment of around Rs 1,400 crore. In two-wheelers, we are in talks with at least two OEMs to set up their charging centers at our company-owned-dealer-operated (Codo) outlets,"said P S Ravi, executive director in-charge (Retail), BPCL, after the launch of the corridor in Chennai. The model will be such that the revenue generated by OEMs using the outlets will be shared between the company and the dealers.

Based on data available with the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), BPCL has around 19,668 retail outlets across the country and out of this, only around 500 are company-owned-company-operated (Coco), rest are majorly Codos. "For four wheelers, you have a standardised charging protocol. For two-wheelers, each player will have a separate protocol. Hence, a tie up with us will be advantageous for them," he said.  BPCL has set a target of becoming a net zero company by 2040. It already has set up battery swapping centers at Cochin and Hyderabad, he said.

The three oil marketing companies -- Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and BPCL -- have already lined up plans to come up with at least around 22,000 charging stations in the next few years, with IOCs share at around 10,000 and HPCL at 5,000.