Thiruvananthapuram | Keralam is preparing to give India's freight transport a cleaner turn with plans to develop the 622-km stretch of National Highway 66 from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram as the country's first electric truck corridor.
A study by the Kerala State Electricity Board Limited (KSEBL) and the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) has found that an initial charging network with a capacity of 12.5 MW would be needed for electric trucks along the corridor.
The investment required at this stage is estimated at Rs 19 crore, according to the study report released at the India Clean Transport Summit 2026 in Delhi.
The project is not only about putting up charging stations. It is also about preparing Keralam's electricity network for a future in which more heavy trucks could run on batteries, a KSEB release said here, quoting the study, on Wednesday.
The study is the first of its kind on an Indian freight corridor to determine how many chargers electric trucks would need, what type of chargers should be installed and where they should be located.
Researchers used FASTag data from four toll plazas on NH 66, national-level truck deployment data, GPS information from 13,355 trucks and 3,39,692 parking records to understand how freight vehicles move and stop along the corridor.
The numbers point to a gradual but significant rise in electricity demand.
While the immediate requirement is estimated at 12.5 MW, the study projects that by 2050, the corridor could need 1,939 chargers with a combined capacity of 204.5 MW. The total investment required by then is estimated at Rs 338 crore.
Daily grid energy demand for charging is projected to rise from 32 MWh in 2030 to 833 MWh in 2050 --a 26-fold increase.
Even then, the study estimates that the additional demand would account for less than 0.2 per cent of Keralam's projected annual electricity consumption.
Kochi, Kozhikode and Kollam are expected to emerge as the major charging hubs along the corridor. The Thiruvangad-Kumbalam section alone is projected to require 76.4 MW of charging capacity by 2050.
For Keralam, the financial burden of developing the charging network is expected to remain within existing central and state allocations.
The project can draw from the Rs 2,000 crore earmarked by the Union Ministry of Heavy Industries for public charging infrastructure under the PM E-DRIVE scheme. The Rs 63.12 crore already sanctioned for establishing a charging network in Keralam can also be used for the purpose.
Speaking at the release of the report, KSEB Director (Generation & REES) Rajan M P said the project could show how freight transport can be electrified while keeping the power grid ready for the change.
"By building India's first electric truck corridor on NH 66, a state power utility is demonstrating how the electrification of freight transport can be made practical and grid-ready," he said.
Rajan said KSEB was committed to strengthening distribution systems according to demand as battery-powered electric trucks become more common along the corridor.
The timing of the planning is also important. Charging infrastructure can take years to plan and build, even before the demand for it reaches its peak.
Harsimran Kaur, a researcher at the International Council on Clean Transportation, said Keralam could not afford to wait until electric trucks became widespread before preparing the infrastructure.
"Since it takes years to plan and build charging infrastructure, it would be too late if Keralam waited until electric trucks became widespread," she said.
Kaur said the corridor-based study would be highly useful in planning the infrastructure needed for the transition.
The proposed corridor could therefore become more than a road lined with charging stations. It could serve as a working model for how a state can prepare its electricity system in advance for the gradual shift of India's freight sector from diesel to electric power, KSEB said.