Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has announced the opening of 19 EV fast-charging stations across 110 fuel stations situated along 15 highways in the southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka.
The EV charging stations are located on three corridors, with 19 fuel stations in Kerala, 33 fuel stations in Karnataka, and 58 fuel stations in Tamil Nadu.
BPCL said the EV charging stations, situated approximately 100 kilometers apart, can charge EVs in just 30 minutes and provide a driving range of up to 125 kilometers. They are positioned along highways that connect important religious and tourist destinations with cities, including the Ranaganthaswamy Temple, Jambukeswar Temple, Guruvayoor Temple, Kadampuzha Temple, and Vallarpadam National Shrine of Basilica.
BPCL has converted 21 highways into electric corridors to date and aims to have 200 highways fitted with fast EV chargers across India by March 2023 to support and accelerate the growth of EVs in the country.
Bharat Petroleum, the second largest Indian oil marketing company, has already chalked out the plan to offer electric vehicle charging stations at around 7000 energy stations over next 5 years.
P.S. Ravi, Executive Director Incharge (Retail), BPCL said these EV charging stations can be self-operated without any manual assistance though support staff will be available if needed. BPCL has digitized the entire EV charger locator, charger operations and transaction process through the HelloBPCL app for an online hassle free and transparent user experience.
In addition, BPCL’s highway fuel stations offer hygienic food from strategic alliances with leading brands such as McDonald’s, A2B, Cube Stop, and Cafe Coffee Day, and local outlets. BPCL has also introduced its In& Out convenience stores at key fuel stations on highways for added customer convenience.
Bharat Petroleum’s refineries at Mumbai and Kochi and Bina at Madhya Pradesh have a combined refining capacity of around 35.3 MMTPA. BPCL has over 20,000 Energy Stations, over 6,200 LPG distributorships, 733 Lubes distributorships, and 123 POL storage locations, 54 LPG Bottling Plants, 60 Aviation Service Stations, 4 Lube blending plants and 4 cross-country pipelines.