Indian oil firms receive FAME II funding for charging stations
India is putting around 90 million euros from FAME funding into expanding the country’s fast-charging network. The money will go to India’s three main mineral oil companies to build nearly 7,500 new public DC charge points.
The 8 billion rupees in funding provided under the ‘FAME India II’ programme will go to Indian Oil (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL). The three public sector companies reportedly pledged to install thousands of chargers in late 2021.
The funding announced today will go into 7,432 new fast chargers, including 5,662 with 50 kW or 60 kW capacity and 1,770 with 100 kW or 120 kW capacity. These are expected to come online by March 2024.
The reasoning behind the funding is that the petroleum companies are as good as state-owned and own the required land to install the new charging infrastructure. “Charge Point Operators (CPOs) face the issue of unavailability of sufficient land,” writes the Ministry of Heavy Industries.
“Considering this difficulty, the Ministry of Heavy Industries has taken up the matter with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to explore the possibility of setting up charging stations at the companies’ outlets. These have sufficient land that can be used for charging infrastructure,” the government announcement said.
According to New Delhi, the above charging stations will be able to charge electric 2-wheeler vehicles, 4-wheeler vehicles, light commercial vehicles and minibuses.
Currently, there are 6,586 charging stations across the country, according to the Indian government.
India has been running subsidy programs to increase EV uptake for years, most prominently as FAME. The government extended FAME II in June 2021 until 31 May 2024. FAME II provides for subsidies with a total value of the equivalent of $1.4 billion.
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