Tata, Hindustan Petroleum join hands for EV chargers at fuel pumps

Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd. (TPEM) on Wednesday announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. and will help set up electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at its fuel pumps across the country. In the first phase, the target is to establish as many as 5,000 chargers at HPCL pumps by December of this year.

There are around 21,500 HPCL petrol pumps across India and the PSU (Public Sector Undertaking) will gather insights on charger usage to improve the customer experience. TPEM, on its part, will help select charger locations based on driving insights from over 1.2 lakh Tata EVs on Indian roads.

TPEM has a 68 per cent market share in India's gradually growing electric car market and has four models in its portfolio - Punch EV, Tiago EV, Tigor EV and Nexon EV. While the bulk of EV charging at present does take place at a customer's residence or office space, availability of charging points at public locations is crucial to increase EV adoption rates. Then there is the key factor of paying for charging at these locations. “The two companies are also exploring the introduction of a convenient payment system through a co-branded RFID card, which will make the charging experience hassle-free," the press statement informed.

While Tata Motors recently inaugurated its first-ever EV-only showroom, in Gurugram, HPCL has so far installed a total of 3,050 EV charging stations, including battery swapping stations, across the country. “Through this alliance (TPEM and HPCL), HPCL shall leverage Tata Motors’ vehicle base to enable our strategic expansion in EV Charging infrastructure at places with higher charging demand and will help in reducing range anxiety of EV customers," said Debashis Chakraverty, Chief General Manager, Retail Strategy & BD, HPCL.