Centre identifies priority national highways for electric trucks and buses

The routes, which include Delhi-Chandigarh, Delhi-Jaipur, Pune-Aurangabad, Chennai-Bengaluru and Indore-Bhopal, among others, will be fitted with electric vehicle (EV) charging stations on priority.

The move comes after the PM E-Drive scheme announced that the ministries of heavy industries and road transport and highways, along with other stakeholders, would identify routes for setting up charging infrastructure on highways.

Also read | India FY25 new highway construction likely hit 7-year low as focus shifted to upgrades

The consultation, however, is still ongoing, and these are not the only highways where EV charging stations will be installed, one of the persons mentioned above clarified.

The PM E-Drive scheme, which gives government subsidy for EVs, has allocated ₹2,000 crore out of its ₹10,900 crore outlay towards the installation of public charging stations.

These priority highways fall along key cargo routes, and trucks moving along them are thought to contribute massively to carbon emissions. The trucking sector is responsible for about a third of the nation’s transport-related carbon emissions, a NITI Aayog report said in 2022.

Electrification of freight transport by substituting diesel trucks for electric trucks is likely to reduce such emissions, and providing adequate charging infrastructure for such vehicles is a priority, said one of the persons mentioned above.

But the government’s efforts to make trucking emission-free have hit a brick wall.

Also read | Govt rushes to find demand for electric trucks under PM E-Drive after bare FY25

Under the PM E-Drive scheme, the government had decided to spend ₹500 crore on subsidizing e-trucks for two fiscals—FY25 and FY26. Of this, ₹150 crore was supposed to have been spent in FY25. But no such disbursal has taken place for the sector.

Mint reported on 6 April that the government has selected sectors such as ports, logistics, cement and steel to generate demand for electric trucks.

The priority roadways for electric buses tells a slightly different story.

Until now, the government had only made policy intervention for introducing electric buses in intracity commutes. Under the PM E-Drive scheme, the ministry of heavy industries had identified nine metropolises where electric buses would be procured by operators at a subsidized rate. These are: New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat and Bengaluru.

Now, electric public transportation can move on to intercity mobility, with the government showing intent to install EV charging infrastructure across highways.

Previously, the government ran three pilot projects for the electrification of national highways via the National Highways for Electric Vehicles (NHEV), an organization specially created for these pilots. The agency ran pilot projects across Delhi-Agra in 2020, Delhi–Jaipur in 2022, and Chennai–Trichy in 2024.

Also read | Ola Electric says it has enough service centres. Govt isn’t buying that

The power ministry in 2018 notified a list of 12 highways for the installation of EV charging stations.

Installing charging stations would reduce range anxiety, when buyers hesitated to shift to an EV due to its limited range in one full charge.

This also follows the government’s efforts to install EV charging stations at other public infrastructure in the country, including ports and airports. Mint has previously reported that the ministry of heavy industry engaged in consultations with the ministries of ports, shipping and waterways, as well as civil aviation to ascertain demand for charging infrastructure.

Another major problem plagues EV charging stations. The ministry of heavy industries in February told Parliament that of the approximately 4,500 EV chargers installed using government subsidies under the FAME-II scheme, only 251 were “energized” or operational as at the beginning of 2025.