South India is becoming an important testing ground for the next stage of electric-vehicle charging infrastructure. Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala already have established EV activity, while new fast-charging projects are connecting major cities and highway corridors.
Karnataka received a significant charging-infrastructure boost under the PM E-DRIVE programme in May 2026. The Ministry of Heavy Industries announced approval of proposals involving 1,243 EV chargers in the state with a financial outlay of ₹123.26 crore. The same announcement said proposals worth ₹503.86 crore had been approved nationally for 4,874 EV chargers through states and Central Public Sector Enterprises.
Bengaluru is also seeing charging infrastructure move into familiar urban locations. Tata Power recently announced an agreement with GAIL Gas to install DC fast-charging points at two GAIL Gas CNG retail outlets in the city. The project reflects a broader trend: existing fuel and mobility sites can be reused as charging locations, giving EV drivers more familiar stopping points while using land and electrical connections more efficiently.
Highway charging is growing alongside city infrastructure. In Telangana, Tata Power and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility announced new ultra-fast charging hubs on NH-65 between Hyderabad and Vijayawada. One location at Vivera Junction in Narketpalle uses two 120 kW DC chargers, while a site at Suryapet’s 7 Midway Plaza has a 240 kW charger with dual dispensers. Tata Power said its Telangana network had crossed 150 charging points after the expansion.
The Bengaluru–Tirupati and Pune–Bengaluru corridors are also part of a broader fast-charging push. Tata Power has highlighted new high-capacity hubs across Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, including locations serving these intercity routes. Such corridors are important because they can link city-based EV adoption with longer journeys, reducing the need for drivers to plan every trip around a single charging stop.
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are also significant in the national charging landscape. Government data released in March 2026 showed 957 chargers installed through oil marketing companies in Tamil Nadu and 544 in Andhra Pradesh under the reported FAME-II network. Karnataka was listed with 751 under the same dataset. These numbers represent one programme and are not the total public charging inventory of each state, but they show the scale of deployment through public-sector fuel networks.
The infrastructure challenge now is consistency. A driver traveling from Bengaluru to Hyderabad or Bengaluru to Tirupati needs chargers that are open, properly marked, compatible and supported by adequate electrical capacity. Fast chargers also need careful grid planning because higher-power equipment can place greater demands on local connections.
South India’s EV infrastructure is therefore evolving from isolated city chargers into a connected system of urban sites, highway hubs and existing fuel-station locations. As more electric cars, buses and commercial vehicles enter the region, these links could become as important to EV travel as the roads connecting the cities themselves.
Sources
Ministry of Heavy Industries / PIB — Karnataka PM E-DRIVE approval
Tata Power — Bengaluru charging locations
Tata Power — Telangana NH-65 fast charging
Ministry of Heavy Industries / PIB — FAME-II charger data
