The government-owned oil company, Hindustan Petroleum has signed a MoU with Tata Power for setting up large-scale charging stations for electric vehicles at its petrol pumps.
This EV charging infrastructure will be set at all HPCL retail outlets in India and also at other locations. Both the companies will combine forces and have agreed to collaborate in the planning, development and operations of charging facility on a commercial scale.
Electric cars, e-rickshaws, electric bikes e-scooters and electric buses will be allowed to charge in these facilities. Tata Power and HPCL also will jointly collaborate to explore more areas of opportunities and collaboration in the field of renewable energy.
Praveer Sinha, CEO & Managing Director, Tata Power, said, “By servicing electric vehicles through the proposed charging stations across India, Tata Power will be playing a crucial role in enabling a stronger penetration of EVs in the country, thus fulfilling our commitment to power India’s future in an environmentally sustainable way.”
Rahul Shah, Chief-Strategy, New Business Services, Business Excellence, Tata Power, said, “We aim to continuously grow our EV charging infrastructure footprints by installing charging stations at strategic locations. Our association with HPCL will help us to scale our EV infrastructure at the national level as well as provide our customers with world-class services”.
Rajnish Mehta, Executive Director, Corporate Strategy Planning and Business Development, HPCL said, “We believe that a robust network of charging stations is very critical for market acceptability of EVs which will also ensure last mile connectivity and thereby facilitate widespread adoption of EVs.
We intend to leverage on our vast marketing infrastructure network in the form of Retail Outlets and other locations for setting up of electric vehicle charging stations on pan India basis”.
Indian government aims to have 15% of new vehicles sales in India to be all-electric vehicles and a lot will depend on the development of charging infrastructure.
Going forward, many carmakers will introduce electric cars in India. Maruti Suzuki electric Wagon R will make its India debut in 2020 and Hyundai electric Kona SUV will be launched in India in 2019. The government, however, is silent of FAME II incentives which once cleared will boost the use of EVs in India.
Share this:
