Indian Oil opens India’s first EV charging station

This step goes in line with Indian Oil’s annual report for 2016-17, where the company made it clear that it was planning to set up battery charging stations and was exploring the manufacturing and retailing of lithium-ion batteries.

State owned petroleum firm, Indian Oil, has launched India's first electric vehicle (EV) charging station at a petrol pump in Nagpur. This has been made possible thanks to the firm’s collaboration with taxi aggregator, Ola.

"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 fuel station in the city," an Indian Oil release said.

India has been ambitiously planning to phase out conventional fossil fuel powered cars, including hybrids, by 2030. However, the country’s EV support structure is still non-existent. While Indian Oil and Ola have taken a step in the right direction to make the projected EV deadline feasible, it is yet to be seen at what pace can EV charging stations be installed nationwide.

Indian Oil Executive Director (Maharashtra), Murali Srinivasan 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".