IOC opens India’s first EV charging station in Nagpur

Indian Oil has partnered with cab aggregator Ola to set up the charging station at an IOC petrol pump here. “Nagpur, being the first city to introduce the electric public transportation model in India, has added one more feather to its cap by adding the first electric charging station at Indian Oil’s COCO (company-owned, company-operated) fuel station in the city,” an IOC release said. 

“We applaud Ola for building the electric vehicle eco-system from a nascent stage in Nagpur and are happy to partner with them in their efforts,” IOC Executive Director (Maharashtra) Murali Srinivasan said in a statement. In its annual report for 201617 presented earlier this year, IOC said it planned to set up battery charging stations and was exploring the manufacture and retailing of lithium-ion batteries. 

The government’s National Electric Mobility Mission Plan launched in 2013 aims at gradually ensuring a vehicle population of about 6-7 million electric and hybrid vehicles in India by 2020. The vision enunciated two years ago is for India to have 100 per cent EVs by 2030. While announcing earlier this week that it will invite bids for the supply of a second lot of 10,000 electric vehicles around March-April next year, state-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) said that the major roadblock in realising the government’s vision is the lack of e-vehicle charging infrastructure.

EESL Managing Director Saurabh Kumar told reporters in New Delhi that the company has floated a tender for AC (Alternate Current) and DC (Direct Current) electric vehicle chargers. While the DC chargers can fully charge an electric vehicle in 45 to 60 minutes, the AC one takes 6 to 7 hours.