For EV charging to take off at traditional pumps, companies will need to come up with a viable business model.
Government think tank Niti Aayog has asked the oil ministry to help set up electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure at 1,000 fuel stations across the country. However industry executives are of the opinion that any such move will require redesigning of stations and a viable business model.
Easy access to charging facility is the key to making EVs popular in India where cities are choking with vehicle emissions, prompting the government to think of new ways to create an ecosystem favourable to green vehicles.
Since the hype of EVs got prominent globally a few years ago, Indian oil marketing companies have been exploring possibilities of being relevant in a future probably dominated by EVs. Now the government order can accelerate their transition.
Need of the hour
For EV charging to take off at traditional pumps, companies will need to come up with a viable business model as well a design tweak of filling stations, company executives and petrol pump dealers said to Economic Times.
Setting up charging stations at fuel pumps could be effective preliminary steps toward popularising EVs, though after a while charging points will proliferate to almost all places that can park a car or bike, Balwinder Singh Canth, a former marketing chief at IndianOil, informed the English Daily.
