More than 8,000 petrol pumps, or one in every ten throughout the nation, now provide charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs) or refueling stations for compressed natural gas (CNG) cars, giving consumers who own or want to acquire less polluting vehicles an advantage.
According to Oil Ministry data, India has around 84,600 gasoline retail outlets, of which 8,900 provide alternative fuels such as CNG, auto LPG, or EV charging stations.
Oil firms have been under pressure to increase the usage of cleaner fuels, therefore EV charging stations are accessible at 4,100 pumps, CNG stations at 4,000 pumps, and vehicle LPG stations at 700. However still only 200 pumps, which are owned by the private sector, provide alternate fueling options.
State-owned fuel merchants such as Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, and Hindustan Petroleum have jumped into the natural gas market, acquiring city gas licences to supply huge swaths of the country.
In locations where city gas permits are not available, they have partnered with licensees to install CNG dispensers at fuel stations. This has aided in the rapid deployment of CNG pumps around the country.
Today, there are around 4,700 CNG retail outlets, including freestanding CNG stations, up from 1,270 five years ago. This figure is predicted to exceed 10,000 in seven years.
Indian Oil, BPCL, and HPCL also intend to install EV charging stations at 22,000 of their gas stations within next few years.
Reference- Oil Ministry website, Economic Times, Mercom India, Money Control, ET NOW