Kerala Pushes India’s First State-Led Electric Truck Corridor Along NH-66

The southern Indian state, Kerala, is also working to develop the first electric truck route under government control, specifically on National Highway 66, as it is one of India’s major freight corridors that transports industrial, port, and construction cargo. The project is being undertaken through the Kerala State Electricity Board Limited, a project under the PM E-DRIVE initiative.

PM E-DRIVE launches an initiative allocated ₹2,000 crore to develop charging infrastructure for electric vehicles along major highways in the country. To facilitate faster execution of this initiative, a high-level meeting between government representatives and representatives of utilities, EV-makers, and logistics companies was conducted by KSEBL and the International Council on Clean Transportation. The meeting addressed development of Kerala’s electric freight plan.

Minister for Electricity K. Krishnankutty has unrolled a web portal that helps register private lands to enable electric charging stations. Eligible Charge Point Operators can choose to register an eligible land parcel that satisfies Category C, which is then combined by KSEBL to release proposals to the Ministry of Heavy Industries. Even as Kerala took over as the nodal agency, it had already submitted preliminary proposals to implement corridor electrification.

The government has made substantial progress on the clean mobility challenge, with more than 300,000 electric vehicles on the road and contributing to over 10 percent of the sales of new vehicles. NH-66, linking districts such as Ernakulam, Kollam, Kozhikode, Alappuzha, and Thiruvananthapuram, remains essential for freight transport, especially with the expansion of the Vizhinjam Port and increasing industry on the coast. The government emphasized the importance of structured electrification in the management of emissions, congestion, and energy in this corridor.

Medium to heavy freight vehicles are identified as major causative factors in polluting road transport. The electrification of freight services along the NH-66 route will lead to an improvement in air quality in the region, as well as an increase in competitiveness for the export industries in Kerala: rubber, sea food, cashew commodities, and plantation produce.

KSEBL Chairman Minhaj Alam said that it is necessary to build a scalable and reliable charging infrastructure, and Additional Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar added that high capacity charging systems of 120 kW and 240 kW will also play an important role in long-distance transportation. Transport Commissioner Nagaraju Chakilam said that charging infrastructure for trucks is also to be integrated with wayside facilities and real-time road information.

By collective effort among the KSEBL, Power Department, Motor Vehicles Department, EV Accelerator Cell, and industries, the state of Kerala aims to create a model or a precedent for the electric freight transition on the corridor in the whole of India. By the NH-66 project, the state takes the lead in the electrification of heavy transport.

For more updates, industry news, and expert perspectives on commercial vehicles, stay tuned to MotorFloor, your trusted source for comprehensive coverage across the commercial mobility sector.