New Delhi: Stepping up efforts to promote sustainable energy use in the backdrop of the Central government encouraging electric vehicles (EVs), public sector undertaking Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has decided to set up EV charging infrastructure across its 18,000 retail outlets in the country. The main focus will be across nine metros -- Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Surat, and Pune.

For this, HPCL has collaborated with state-run firm Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) to set up charging infrastructure at some of its outlets. It has also signed an agreement with Tata Power to set up such charging points at its outlets in cities and on highways.

It is worth mentioning that the Government of India has been pushing the use of green energy and hence electric vehicles by modifying the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme, which was created to minimise vehicular emissions.

Under the scheme, the government has increased the incentive to two wheelers to Rs 15,000/KWh. It has also allotted demand aggregation of electric three wheeler and electric bus components to Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL). The government has also extended the FAME scheme to two years till March 31, 2024.