Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) on Thursday launched an electric vehicle fast-charging corridor on the Chennai-Tiruchi–Madurai highway. Ten of its fuel stations — five on each side — set 100 km apart, will have the facility to charge one electric car at a time.
Speaking to newspapers at a press conference before formally launching the first station at Meenambakkam, BPCL Executive Director (in-charge) Retail P.S. Ravi said that around 100 such outlets would come up in the next ten months in the State. These would come up on Chennai–Bengaluru and Chennai–Salem corridors.
He said that the idea was to allay the fears of electric car owners, who did not travel long distance due to non-availability of charging stations and the lack of information as to where they would be able to charge next. “It will cost them around 50% of what a petrol car owner will spend to charge. In half an hour, they can charge to run 100 km and it would cost them around ₹500. And while they wait for the car to be speed-charged, they can spend some time at restaurants with whom BPCL has tied up,” he said.
The company, which was the first to start battery charging stations for three-wheelers, has spent between ₹15 lakh to ₹40 lakh for installing these stations. “For now, we have charging docks for one vehicle at a time since the sector is taking baby steps everywhere. We will increase the numbers as and when the demand increases and we see that happening quite soon in Tamil Nadu,” he said.
