IOC marching towards PM's net zero emissions goal

IOC will target setting up 231 EV charging stations in nine high-priority cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Surat and Pune. Another 375 stations would be set up in the second year in these cities and a further 215 in the third year

New Delhi: Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation's largest oil firm, will set up 10,000 charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs) in the next three years as it prepares for the energy transition leading to net-zero by 2070, its chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya said on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday made a bold pledge to cutting emissions at the world's third-biggest emitter to net-zero by 2070. While IOC sees fossil fuels like petrol and diesel continuing to play a dominant role in meeting India's energy needs in the next couple of decades, the company is setting up the infrastructure to give confidence to automobile manufacturers for enhancement of EV production and to customers for an uninterrupted drive, Vaidya told reporters here. "Energy pie of the country is growing. We are not a stagnant economy. Overall our energy pie is growing and so all kinds of fuel will be needed to meet the energy needs," he said.

IOC plans to set up 50 KW EV charging stations at every 25-km and 100 KW heavy-duty chargers at every 100-km to weave a network that will provide customers easy access for charging their electric vehicles, he said adding the charging stations would be set up at existing and new petrol pumps across the country. With the bulk of 28 crore vehicles currently on Indian roads and most of 2.5 crore automobiles being added to the roads every year being either run on petrol or diesel, the requirement of fossil fuel will continue to grow.

At present, battery-powered, called EVs, make up for a small percentage of all automobiles. Of all new two-wheelers sold, EVs make up for about one per cent while the percentage of same in the four-wheeler category is just 0.2 per cent. 25 per cent of new three-wheeler sale is EVs. By 2030, 30 per cent of all new two-wheelers are projected to be electric while 35 per cent of all new three-wheelers would be using electricity as fuel. 15 per cent of four-wheelers sold in 2030 would be EVs, IOC official said quoting projections by different agencies. "IOC is aligned with what Prime Minister has announced and it is taking the first step toward that," Vaidya said. The company, which controls roughly half of the nation's fuel dispensing network, will set up 2,000 EV charging stations by October next year and another 8,000 in the following two years, he said. In the first year, IOC will target setting up 231 EV charging stations in 9 high-priority cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Surat and Pune. Another 375 stations would be set up in the second year in these cities and a further 215 in the third year. In all, 944 charging stations would be set up in other state capitals over the three-year period but more than half of the 10,000 outlets planned would come up on highways and other cities.