Indian Oil Corporation, India’s largest oil manufacturing company, has offered to install 10,000 EV charging stations across the country. In a bid to build the infrastructure for EVs in the country, the company has committed to building the charging stations by the year 2024. The first 2,000 EV charging stations will be installed by October 2022. This comes as a welcome move after the UK committed to providing an “India Green Guarantee” to the World Bank, to unlock an additional 750 million pounds for green projects across India.
Official statements
The announcement was made by Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation, who said, “2000 EV charging stations will be established in the next 12 months and another 8000 in the next two years to achieve the target of 10,000 EV charging stations in the next three years.” “Eventually we intend to become an energy company in India and not just be restricted to selling petroleum products. The world is changing. We intend to set up EV charging points and battery swapping stations at our petrol pumps alongside offering auto-LPG and conventional fuels. So it will be a bouquet of offering,” Vaidya had said in an interview earlier.
IOC’s current portfolio
Indian Oil Corporation currently controls over 40 percent of India’s diesel-dominated petroleum product market, has been remodeling its business amid a greater push for cleaner energy by the Centre with a focus on electric vehicles and cleaner fuel. Though it may seem that stepping into the EV market may not be easy, the company does have some experience in setting up charging stations. The company has already set up EV-charging points at 76 of its petrol pumps and battery-swapping facilities at 11 more outlets.
The company is not just limiting its research to charging stations. It is also evaluating different advanced battery technologies and intends to set up a metal-air battery-manufacturing facility for EVs as well as for stationary applications. Apart from conventional fuel like petrol and diesel, Indian Oil Corporation also retails cleaner fuel like CNG. Indian Oil Corporation has also established itself as the second-largest player in natural gas in India with a license to retail CNG and piped cooking gas in 40 Geographical Areas.