Bengaluru all charged up for EVs, but lax charging infra gives buyers a shock

Bengaluru: Following an upward trend in the Electric Vehicle (EV) market in Karnataka over the last few years, a palpable shift in market trends has been noticed in recent times.

While the state is slowly seeing a decline in registrations of electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers are seeing a sharp rise. 

Sales rose from 1.7 lakh in 2023-24 to 1.73 lakh in 2024-25, mainly driven by electric two-wheeler purchases.

Despite this, for the first time since electric vehicles took off in the state, electric two-wheeler registrations saw a decline — from 1.4 lakh in 2023-24 to 1.3 lakh in 2024-25.

The state’s EV penetration in the financial year 2025-26 is 9.38% compared to the national average of 7.49%. A majority of the sales are concentrated in Bengaluru. 

Electric three-wheelers have witnessed record sales, with over 5,000 registrations in 2024-25.

Registrations of electric four-wheelers are also seeing a slow, but steady rise, from 10,300 in 2023-24 to 12,200 in 2024-25. 

There are a total of 468 charging stations across Karnataka, with Bescom accounting for 208. Bengaluru accounts for the maximum number of charging stations.

However, citizens said most of the charging stations, even private ones, in the city were either not operational or poorly maintained. 

Out of 10 petrol bunks in south and central Bengaluru, only 3 had EV charging facilities, but none of them were operational when DH paid a visit.

To make matters worse, the state government dropped the plan to set up 2,500 public EV charging stations earlier this year. 

The market trajectory is not developing favourably and poor EV infrastructure is to blame, an urban mobility expert told DH. 

“That’s not a good sign. It is understandable that people are moving away from electric vehicles as the government has done nothing to boost confidence in them. The EV charging infrastructure in the city is almost non-existent. If the government, both state and central, want to latch on to global trends and move away from diesel and petrol vehicles, they need to shift their priority to developing charging infrastructure,” he said. 

Similar sentiment echoes amongst Bengaluru’s EV owners. Sowmya R, a Nagarabhavi resident, sold her electric four-wheeler in late 2024 due to lack of EV charging stations in and around the city.

“I had the car for about two years, and in those two years, I could not gain the confidence to travel even an hour outside city limits. Even within city, there have been multiple times when the car’s charge would suddenly dip and I would zero in on a charging station, only to find it is not functional,” she said. 

One of the first few to adopt electric cars around 2010, Milan Vohra and her husband decided to sell their electric car almost six years later, for similar reasons.

“Back then, the market was not so developed and the car caused us several panic attacks. It remains the same even today,” she said. 

In contrast, electric bike and scooter owners, who rarely have to rely on public charging infrastructure, have mostly positive things to share. 

Sachin prefers to use an EV within the city. “EVs are better because it gives more than 85 km of mileage after charging once in two days,” he said.

Another e-bike owner, Shahi, prefers EVs, for their cost-efficiency. “It is much cheaper than petrol vehicles. My electricity bill has gone up by only Rs 300-Rs 350, whereas I used to spend Rs 1,000-1,200 on petrol every month,” he said. 

It would be ideal if a universal charging system were to be adopted by the various e-scooter manufacturers, as it would be useful in emergencies, said Kiran from Kasturinagar. 

An EV mobility expert attributes the slowly stagnating EV market to lack of discounts and government subsidies also.

“When electric two-wheelers were initially launched, the government offered subsidies to encourage sales. The subsidies were offered up to Rs 15,000. Eventually, the government scaled back on subsidies, which might have led to a dip in sales,” he said. 

However, manufacturers believe sales of electric two-wheelers will pick up.

Rohin Nagarani, communication specialist with a leading EV brand, said, “We have seen a 64% increase in sales in the first half of 2025, compared to last year. The charging infrastructure, however, is not very supportive of EVs,” he told DH. Another EV brand, River EV, has sold 5,000 units of its scooter, River Indie, so far this year. 

Centre must provide subsidies: Transport minister

Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said that for the EV market to take off, the central government must come out with adequate subsidies.

“It must provide subsidies for EV sales and invest in sustainable transport,” he told DH.