Petrol pumps may offer charging facilities for electric vehicles

If you are a proud owner of an electric vehicle, you may soon be able to recharge it by plugging it in at your friendly neighbourhood petrol pump. With the Government having subsidised sale of hybrid and electric vehicles, starting April 1, 2015, the Renewable Energy as well as Petroleum Ministries are in talks with State-owned oil companies to provide electric charging of such vehicles at petrol outlets.

The move, if it becomes applicable, will give a major boost to the currently abysmal sale of electric vehicles across the country, as manufacturers often blame lack of charging facilities behind the tepid interest shown by people towards buying such vehicles.According to sources aware of the development, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) recently held discussions with the oil industry on how sale of electric vehicles can be further boosted by providing charging facilities at petrol pumps.

Even the Petroleum Ministry, sources added, is planning to hold discussions with oil marketing companies like Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation ltd (BPCl) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation ltd (HPCl) to allow such facilities for electric vehicles.The Heavy Industries Ministry, which took the initiative of subsidising electric vehicles under its ambitious National Mobility Mission Programme (NEMMP), has urged the Petroleum Ministry to prioritise the matter.

If charging facilities are provided at petrol pumps, sale of such vehicles, already subsidised by the Centre under NEMMP, may get further enhanced as people will be encouraged to buy them seeing such a convenience in their neighbourhood.Though a novel concept, the sale of electric vehicles has not really picked up in India, and annual sale figures of such cars is nothing to write home about. In fact in many cases, the monthly sales figures of electric vehicles are in double figures and companies manufacturing these are taking a hit on their finances and consider it a big risk.

Earlier, as per the proposal of the Union Heavy Industries Ministry, the Centre from April 1, 2015 onwards, subsidised sale of electric vehicles by making them cheaper by up to Rs1.5 lakh.Under NEMMP, incentives for buying a two-wheeler scooter range from  `1,800 per unit to `2,200 per unit. Incentives for buying electric motor cycles, range from  `3,500 per unit to up to as high as  `29,000 per unit.

For electric cars, the incentive is in the range of  `11,000 per unit to  Rs1,38,000 per unit. In case of electric buses, the incentive is between  `30 lakh to  `66 lakh per unit. “We are starting the scheme in metropolitan cities. Eventually the scheme will be launched in Smart Cities and all major cities across the country,” Union Heavy Industries Minister Anant Geete had said in April.

On technology platform, Geete had said that one of the prime focus areas under the scheme is to develop indigenous technology and Research and Development (R&D) capability to develop and manufacture the entire range of electric components and sub-systems necessary for hybrid and electric vehicles.