India’s fuel industry is being reshaped by mobile petrol by 2035
According to Research, India will require 180,000 pumps by 2035, a substantial amount of which will be built in rural and semi-urban regions where the economy does not support the addition. Due to increased land acquisition difficulty, high real estate costs, and high population density, there is less space available for gas stations, especially in metropolitan areas. These pumps appear like a herculean undertaking because they require a substantial cost to open.
Generator sets in housing projects, hospitals, retail malls, hotels, and businesses that operate heavy machinery need diesel fuel to continue to run. Once depleted, these resources cannot return to the fuel station for refuelling. In such circumstances, the majority of firms rely on manual barrel purchases from retail fuel stations, which is exceedingly risky and prone to fraud and adulteration. A doorstep fuel delivery service may supply diesel at the customer’s location and significantly cut businesses’ losses while also reducing carbon emissions without the businesses having to do anything.
The necessity of portable gas stations
For many organizations and sectors, diesel is a necessary product. However, because of fundamental flaws in the distribution system, companies find it challenging to purchase diesel in large numbers due to the mismatch between fuel supply and demand. Bulk purchasers also suffer significant losses from spills, dead mileage, and thefts when conventionally purchasing fuel. Because more customers will choose to have fuel delivered to them rather than sending personnel with barrels to the gas pumps to buy fuel in cans, the tendency will eventually result in the fuel delivery model.
The entire business will lean toward those who can effectively and easily supply gasoline to the end user. As a result, mobile gasoline pumps equipped with technology will not only assist large consumers in saving significantly on their fuel expenses but also provide them access to technology for tracking and monitoring fuel management.
Governmental efforts to build an ecosystem for fuel delivery
The Oil Industry’s home delivery of High-Speed Diesel (HSD) was first proposed for legalization in 2017 by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry. The Indian government announced a pilot project for gasoline delivery to consumers’ doorsteps in March 2018 as a result of this concept. Participants in the initiative included the government, start-ups, OMCs, and PESO.
Following the overwhelming success of the pilot projects, the Indian government changed its policies to make doorstep diesel delivery lawful while also creating opportunities for ambitious fuel entrepreneurs (FuelEnts) who wished to launch their businesses offering this service. Oil marketing firms were now assigned the task of working with startups to push a quick change in the energy distribution sector. Startups may now transport diesel to all enterprises that require it in large quantities while also creating entry-level jobs.
Key advantages of a doorstep diesel delivery strategy:
1) Zero dead miles: By delivering diesel to businesses, it would be unnecessary for industrial vehicles to travel to gas stations. By removing the dead mileage of automobiles, fuel would be saved.
2) No Theft: The mobile fuel pumps’ technology renders the whole fuel distribution system impregnable and eliminates any possibility of gasoline theft.
3) Lessening Pollution: Eliminating dead miles will save needless fuel consumption, cut down on carbon emissions, and safeguard the environment.
4) Reducing Fuel Wastage: By minimizing the number of journeys required by various vehicles to and from the fueling station, mobile fuelers can cut down on the number of lost miles. Professional and accepted techniques can reduce adulteration and spillage losses.
5) Reducing Environmental Harm: By decreasing unnecessary fossil fuel use and waste, the carbon footprint and consequent pollution may be considerably reduced.
6) Resource optimization and the multiplier effect: By cutting fuel expenses by 5–10%, businesses may save a lot of money across all sectors. These savings allow companies to more effectively use their resources, capitalize on their competitive advantage, and benefit their consumers. This might thus affect certain industries more than others.
7) Technology: The Internet of Things and other cutting-edge hardware and software guarantee perfect delivery operations. Customers may now be confident that there were no thefts during the procedure. The issues of the fuel industry’s quality and quantity may easily be supported by this paradigm.
Mobile Petrol is already here; it is not the future. The global fuel supply chain, fuel trade economics, structural limits of the present distribution model, altering consumer demand patterns, and technology changes would all continue to be major drivers of mobile fuel growth. The government is actively promoting the concept of Doorstep Diesel Delivery (DDD). More than 1000 fuel startups have joined this market, and there are already about 3000 mobile petrol stations that offer doorstep diesel delivery services. As more people discover the advantages of such a service, their numbers are rising every day.
Edited by Prakriti Arora
