BPCL launches 6 highway corridors for Fast-Charging of e-vehicles

By Kirti Patil

Pune: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), a ‘Maharatna’ and a Fortune Global 500 Company, today announced the launch of EV Fast-Charging stations on six highways in Western India.

These six highways are –

Pune-Ahmednagar-Aurangabad – 240 KMs

Pune-Solapur (4 ROs), 250 KMs

Pune- Nashik (4 ROs), 200 KMs

Pune-Kolhapur (3 RO s), 225 KMs

Mumbai- Nashik (3 RO s) 200KMs and

Nashik- Shirdi (3 RO s), 90 KMs

The EV fast chargers at BPCL Fuel Stations recharges EVs in just about 30 minutes giving the driving range of upto 125 kilometers, therefore the distance between the two such facilities at highways have been kept within 100 kilometres.

So far, BPCL has converted 6 highways into electric corridors and going forward, by March 2023, 200 highways will be covered with Electric Vehicle Fast Chargers under the brand eDrive which carries the tagline Clean. Fast. Easy, to support and accelerate the EV growth in the country.

These Fast EV Charging Corridors were inaugurated by Shri P.S. Ravi, Executive Director Incharge (Retail) in presence of S. Abbas Akhtar, CGM (Brand & PR), Subhankar Sen, CGM (RETAIL INITIATIVES & BRAND), RETAIL HQ, Akshay Wadhwa, HEAD (RETAIL), WEST.

The fast chargers follow the CCS-2 protocol and are a part of BPCL’s initiative to address the range anxiety of electric vehicle owners.

Speaking at the launch, Shri. P.S. Ravi, Executive Director I/c (Retail), BPCL said “We at BPCL are constantly striving to align ourselves with the nation’s vision to enhance clean mode of mobility and reduce dependence on the fossil fuels. We are steadily moving towards converting 7000 of our conventional Retail Outlets into Energy Stations which is a part of a comprehensive decarbonization strategy to support and prioritize sustainable initiatives. We are setting up fast charging highway corridors to eliminate the range, discovery and time anxiety form the EV customer travelling on highways. 400 such corridors by next year will cover almost every part of the country.”

All EV customers will be able to use the EV fast charging stations via a pay-per-use online service. The fast chargers can be self-operated without any manual assistance though support staff will be at hand when needed.

Bharat Petroleum Fuel Stations offer the consumers with added convenience of clean and hygienic washrooms, cash withdrawals, safe and secure parking while charging, free digital air facility, 24 hour operations and much more. Select fuel stations also offer Nitrogen filling facility. 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.

Several of Bharat Petroleum’s highway fuel stations also offer hygienic food through its strategic alliances with leading brands such as McDonald’s, A2B, Cube Stop, Café Coffee Day and other local outlets. Bharat Petroleum has also rolled out its chain of In & Out convenience stores at key fuel stations on highways for added convenience to its customers.