Karnataka may replace half of government vehicles with EVs in 3 years

The Karnataka government has set itself a target to replace half of petrol and diesel-run government vehicles with electric vehicles in the next 2-3 years, deputy chief minister C N Ashwath Narayan said.

Speaking at a panel on the future of sustainable mobility at the Harvard India Conference 2021 on Monday, Narayan, who is also the state’s minister for information technology, said the government would take steps to develop charging infrastructure in high-rise buildings, metro stations, malls, IT parks and apartments. “We aim to set up fast chargers along a few important highways and will also establish a world-class Karnataka electric mobility research and innovation centre,” he explained.

Karnataka is the first among Indian states to come up with an EV policy and the government is pushing to make the state a hub for the manufacture of EVs, batteries and charging equipment.

The state is also working on tweaking its EV policy to keep up with the latest developments in the sector.

The minister acknowledged that lack of charging infrastructure remained a concern and said the state was working to improve the situation.