Focus on State highways, tourism corridors and inter-State routes to fill gaps in Keralas EV charging community, says new report

A brand new report on Kerala’s electrical car (EV) charging community has revealed ‘gaps,’ primarily within the hill areas, freight corridors and inter-district routes, underscoring the necessity to look past city and different high-demand areas given the regular enhance in EV penetration within the southern State.

The ‘Spearheading Kerala’s electrical mobility transition: A research on spatial distribution and heatmap evaluation of quick electrical car charging stations’ drawn up by the EV Accelerator Cell of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) with technical assist from think-tank Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) noticed that cities like Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode exhibit sturdy protection, whereas rural belts lag behind.

The report was unveiled on the ‘Shoonya EV Conclave 2025’ collectively organised by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), the NITI Aayog and think-tank Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) right here on Thursday. The report noticed that Kerala has made vital strides in creating charging infrastructure, with over 440 public fast-charging stations and pole-mounted items already operational. On the way in which ahead, it advised elevated focus alongside tourism corridors, rural and inside State highways and inter-State linkages to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Among the districts, Wayanad, Idukki, Malappuram and Palakkad at present take pleasure in “beneficial EV-to-charger ratios,” indicating infrastructure readiness forward of demand, in accordance with the report. “By distinction, Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod present larger infrastructure pressure, the place the tempo of EV adoption is outpacing charging deployment,” it mentioned.

The evaluation which coated 14 districts revealed gaps within the EV charging community alongside the inter-State freight corridors, tourism and high-range routes, some stretches alongside National Highway 66 — the State’s most important north-south artery — and components of Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram districts.

‘Under-served’ routes

The built-in district-level evaluation recognized the next routes as ‘under-served’ and demanding precedence intervention: In the north, the Kasaragod-Kannur-Kozhikode NH 66 stretch, the State Highway part linking Kannur and Wayanad and the Wayanad-Mysuru hill routes had been listed as ‘under-served’ by EV charging stations.

In Central Kerala, such routes included the Thrissur-Ernakulam-Alappuzha NH 66 stretch, the Thrissur-Palakkad-Coimbatore NH 544 stretch and the Malappuram-Palakkad-Coimbatore stretch. In the south, the NH 66 stretch linking Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram and the MC highway linking Angamaly-Thiruvananthapuram have discovered point out within the report. Beyond these, the evaluation additionally revealed gaps within the high-range and tourism corridors together with a number of routes in Idukki district, and the routes to Vagamon, Thekkady, Kuttikanam, Idukki Wildlife Sanctuary and Sabarimala.

Kerala’s EV charging ecosystem has reached a pivotal stage the place enlargement should transcend city and high-demand pockets to make sure Statewide accessibility, the report mentioned. “The recognized under-served corridors are usually not solely very important for passenger mobility but additionally essential for freight motion and tourism connectivity. Addressing these gaps will allow balanced development, cut back vary anxiousness, and strengthen Kerala’s place as a pacesetter in sustainable electrical mobility,” it mentioned.

EV penetration price in Kerala has proven a rise from 1% in 2021 to 13% in 2025, in accordance with the report. Till May 2025, EV registrations stood at 2,46,692, the report mentioned, citing information from the Centre’s Vahan dashboard. Electric two-wheelers dominate the registrations adopted by non-public four-wheelers.