The State-owned oil marketing company Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) intends to establish 10,000 recharging stations across the country for electric vehicles in the next three years. According to IOC Chairman SM Vaidya, 2000 EV charging stations will be installed in the next 12 months, followed by another 8000 in the next two years, with the goal of reaching 10,000 EV charging stations in the next three years.
The Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) announces that it is planning to set up two ethanol plants at an investment of approximately Rs 600 crores each in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. There were two possible locations for the ethanol plant that had been approved by the state of Telangana. In addition, IOC is planning an EV battery production plant of GW scale, which would shortly also be finalized.
Each plant will be capable of producing around 5 lakh liters of ethanol per day. The project is to be finalized soon with the cooperation of an Israeli company for a GW scale EV battery production plant. Aluminum-based batteries will have a range of approximately 400 kilometers. The IOC is also in discussions with OEMs about its battery plants.
The announcement was made today 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.”
IOC, India’s largest oil company, has been restructuring its operations in response to the government’s increased drive for greener energy, with a focus on electric vehicles and cleaner fuel. IOC controls over 40% of India’s diesel-dominated petroleum product market.
“Eventually we intend to become an energy company of 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.
The petrol stations of the company are not only for petrol and diesel but also for methanol, ethanol and CNG, LNG, battery swapping services, and charging facilities for electric vehicles. As part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat activities, the corporation is undertaking a number of similar initiatives that will be brought in overtime.
Indian Oil plant in Haryana
Additionally, the Indian oil is constructing a plant in Haryana’s Panipat district to produce 100 KLPD (kilolitres per day) lignocellulosic 2G ethanol utilizing indigenous technology developed by the Indian Oil and Research & Development center. This initiative costs Rs 766 crore to promote the usage of fuel that supports the environment. The company also produces 3G ethanol, by using gas fermentation technologies to transform the hydrogen off-gas produced in its refineries into ethanol.
Indian Oil collaborations
In order to put up EV chargers in the fuel stations, Indian Oil collaborated with Tata Power, REIL, NTPC, Power Grid Corporation, Fortum, Hyundai, Tech Mahindra, BHEL, and Ola Electric. In addition to IndianOil, the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) also said that in the next few years, the company will provide charging stations with around 7,000 petrol pumps.
In the following three years the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) also declared that it will commission 5,000 charging stations. There were 84 charging sites for EV.
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Research and Development Centre of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOC) announced a collaboration to develop biomass gasification-based hydrogen-generating technology to manufacture affordable fuel cell-grade hydrogen.
Setting up EV charging stations in a phased manner
Indian Oil wants to install the charging stations gradually by setting up the first 2000 units in the year. IndianOil now has 448 EV charging stations and 30 battery swapping stations throughout the country.
In the first phase, 231 charging stations are being targeted at towns such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Surat, and Pune. State capitals, smart cities, and important highways and expressways would be covered in stages.
Source: auto.hindustantimes.com
