Magazine

Last edition
May-June 2026

Home › Other Energy Applications ›EIM, HPCL Partner to Roll Out EV Charging and Battery Swapping Hubs for Heavy Commercial Vehicles

EIM, HPCL Partner to Roll Out EV Charging and Battery Swapping Hubs for Heavy Commercial Vehicles

Energy In Motion has signed an agreement with HPCL to phase-wise deploy fast-charging and battery swapping infrastructure for electric heavy commercial vehicles at select HPCL retail outlets, starting with the Mumbai-Pune, Delhi-Jaipur and Chennai-Bengaluru freight corridors over the next 18-24 months.

July 27, 2026. By Mrinmoy Dey

Energy In Motion (EIM), an associate company of Ravindra Energy, has executed an agreement with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) to establish and operate fast charging cum battery swapping infrastructure for heavy commercial vehicles at select HPCL retail outlets across India. HPCL operates a network of over 25,000 retail outlets nationwide, including on all major highways and expressways.

Under the agreement, EIM will deploy charging and battery swapping infrastructure at HPCL retail outlets in a phased rollout. The company plans to establish swap-and-charge hubs on key freight corridors including Mumbai-Pune, Delhi-Jaipur and Chennai-Bangalore over the next 18 to 24 months and expand progressively thereafter, stated the company, further adding that the stations will serve electric commercial vehicles and will be integrated with EIM's technology platform for real-time availability, digital payments and remote monitoring.

The partnership is structured to combine the strengths of each party. EIM owns and manages the battery inventory and swap-and-charge hardware, while HPCL provides the space, utilities and common amenities at its outlets. This division allows each partner to contribute what it does best - EIM its electric-vehicle fleet expertise and battery infrastructure, HPCL its established, well-located retail network and enables charging capacity to be rolled out faster and more efficiently than either could achieve alone, stated EIM.

Commenting on the partnership, Narendra Murkumbi, Managing Director of EIM, said, “Charging infrastructure succeeds or fails on reliability. Working with HPCL allows us to place charging and swapping where drivers already stop - sites with power, space, amenities, safety systems and staff on duty. Combining our battery and fleet expertise with HPCL's nationwide retail network lets us build dependable swap-and-charge hubs on the corridors that carry India's freight, and to do it at the pace the transition demands.”

Hindustan Petroleum outlets combine a prominent highway or urban location with existing power connectivity, forecourt space, safety systems and round-the-clock staffing the conditions that determine whether public charging is dependable in practice. The partnership addresses the two constraints most often cited by electric vehicle operators: reliable availability, and confidence on long-distance routes.

Battery swapping, offered alongside conventional charging, allows drivers of suitable commercial vehicles to exchange a depleted battery for a charged one in 7 minutes. For fleet operators moving goods over long distances, this materially reduces vehicle downtime and improves daily utilisation and earnings, asserted the company.

EIM is building an electric heavy commercial vehicle ecosystem, including MW-scale charging and swapping stations across the country. EIM has already commissioned six heavy-duty swap stations in the Delhi-NCR region and the JNPA port area, with a daily capacity of 840 battery swaps, and is targeting 40 operational heavy commercial vehicle swap-cum-charging stations by the end of March 2027, stated the company.

Tags:

Sustainable Transport

Energy in Motion

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation

EV Charging Stations

Battery swapping network

Narendra Murkumbi