BPCL Electrifies More than 5,000 Kilometers Highway Stretches in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to Promote Electric Vehicles Growth

• 30 KW fast charging stations installed at 110 Fuel Stations, creating 19 EV Fast Charging Corridors on 15 major highways in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu

• These corridors will connect important religious and tourists destinations with cities

• Highway Corridors creates to remove range anxiety of the electric vehicles owners, driving long distance

• Fuel Stations offers safe & secure stoppage points for EV charging, offering clean toilets and restaurants, which are ideal for driving break

• BPCL will convert 200 National Highways across India, by March 31^st 2023, into electric corridors

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), a ‘Maharatna‘ and a Fortune Global 500 Company, today announced the launch of 19 EV Fast-Charging Corridors at 110 fuel stations along 15 highways in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The company has launched 3 corridors with 19 fuel stations in Kerala, 6 Corridors with 33 fuel stations in Karnataka and 10 corridors with 58 fuel stations in Tamil Nadu.

Left to Right: Kannabiran D., State Head (Retail) Kerala, Pushp Kumar Nayar, Head Retail South, P. S. Ravi, ED I/c Retail, Shubhankar Sen, CGM (Retail Initiatives & Brand), Saurabh Jain, Chief Manager (PR & Brand)

The 19 Highway Corridors are:

“It takes just 30 minutes to charge an EV, giving the driving range of upto 125 kilometers at our Fuel Stations, therefore we have maintained the distance within 100 kilometers between the two charging stations,“ said Pushp Kumar Nayar, Head Retail South at the launch.

These corridors will connect important religious and tourists destinations with cities, like Tirupathi in Andhra Pradesh & Bandipur National Park in Karnataka; Ranaganthaswamy Temple, Jambukeswar Temple, famous religious places covered in Kerala are Guruvayoor temple and Kadampuzha temple , Vallarpadam National shrine of Basilica, St.Antonys Church, Koratty and Markaz Knowledge City & Early Sunrise watch at Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai, and many more.

So far, BPCL has converted ​21 Highways into electric corridors and going forward, by March 2023, 200 highways will be covered with Electric Vehicle Fast Chargers across India, to support and accelerate the EV growth in the country.

These Fast EV Charging Corridors were inaugurated by P.S. Ravi, Executive Director Incharge (Retail) in presence of Pushp Kumar Nayar, Head Retail South, Kannabiran D. , State Head (Retail) Kerala, Subhankar Sen, Chief General Manager (Retail Initiative & Brand) at Ernakulam, Kerala.

Speaking at the launch, P.S. Ravi, Executive Director Incharge (Retail), BPCL said, “The fast chargers are easy to use. They can be self-operated without any manual assistance though support staff will be available if needed. BPCL has digitized the entire EV charger locator, charger operations and transaction process through the HelloBPCL app for an online hassle free and transparent user experience.“

Several of BPCL’s highway fuel stations also offer hygienic food through its strategic alliances with leading brands such as McDonald’s, A2B, Cube Stop, Cafe Coffee Day and other local outlets. Bharat Petroleum has also rolled out its chain of In & Out convenience stores at key fuel stations on highways for added convenience to its customers.

Saurabh Jain, Chief Manager (PR & Brand) moderated the press conference.

About Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL)

Fortune Global 500 Company, Bharat Petroleum is the second largest Indian Oil Marketing Company and one of the premier integrated energy companies in India, engaged in refining of crude oil and marketing of petroleum products, with a significant presence in the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry. The company attained the coveted Maharatna status, joining the elite club of companies having greater operational & financial autonomy.

Bharat Petroleum’s Refineries at Mumbai & Kochi and Bina at Madhya Pradesh have a combined refining capacity of around 35.3 MMTPA. Its marketing infrastructure includes a network of installations, depots, energy stations, aviation service stations and LPG distributors. Its distribution network comprises over 20,000 Energy Stations, over 6,200 LPG distributorships, 733 Lubes distributorships, and 123 POL storage locations, 54 LPG Bottling Plants, 60 Aviation Service Stations, 4 Lube blending plants and 4 cross-country pipelines.

Bharat Petroleum is integrating its strategy, investments, environmental and social ambitions to move towards a sustainable planet. The company has chalked out the plan to offer electric vehicle charging stations at around 7000 energy stations over next 5 years.

With a focus on sustainable solutions, the company is developing a vibrant ecosystem and a road-map to become a Net Zero Energy Company by 2040, in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. Bharat Petroleum has been partnering communities by supporting innumerable initiatives connected primarily in the areas of education, water conservation, skill development, health, community development, capacity building and employee volunteering. With ‘Energising Lives’ as its core purpose, Bharat Petroleum’s vision is to be the most admired global energy company leveraging talent, innovation & technology.