Starting an EV charging station in Karnataka: subsidy, tariff and connection

Updated on 1 November 2026. State rules change, so confirm the current terms with your ESCOM and the state before you apply.

Karnataka has more public charging stations than any other state in India, and most of them are in Bengaluru. That tells you two things at once: there's real demand here, and in the city, there's real competition too. The state also has one of the lowest EV energy charges in the country, a new clean mobility policy, and, since April 2026, road tax on electric cars. Here's how it all adds up if you're planning a charging station.

Quick summary

• Karnataka's Clean Mobility Policy 2025-30 includes capital subsidies for fast-charging and battery-swapping stations. Reports put it at 25%, up to ₹10 lakh per station, for 500 fast-charging stations.
• The EV energy charge is ₹4.50 a unit until March 2028, but there's a fixed charge on top, so idle capacity costs you every month.
• Up to 150 kW you can stay on an LT connection under the EV category.
• Bengaluru has most of the state's stations. Corridors and other cities are less crowded.

The Karnataka subsidy for charging stations

The Karnataka Clean Mobility Policy 2025-30 came into effect on 11 February 2025 and replaced the 2017 EV policy. The state's official announcement confirms capital subsidies for fast-charging and battery-swapping stations, but doesn't give the amounts. News reports of the notification put the fast-charging subsidy at 25% of the capital cost, up to ₹10 lakh per station, for 500 stations serving two-wheelers, three-wheelers, cars and buses. Slow chargers don't get a subsidy.

Because the official amounts weren't in the public release, treat these figures as indicative and confirm the current terms before you plan around them.

The EV electricity tariff in Karnataka

All five ESCOMs (BESCOM, MESCOM, CESC Mysuru, HESCOM and GESCOM) charge the same EV tariff, set by the regulator's combined tariff order of March 2025 for 2025-26 to 2027-28:

• Energy charge: ₹4.50 per unit, for both LT and HT EV charging connections.
• Fixed charge on LT: ₹70 per kW a month.
• Demand charge on HT: ₹200 per kVA a month.
• No time-of-day pricing for public charging stations.

That energy charge is low, which helps your margin on every unit you sell. The fixed charge is the part to plan for. A 60 kW charger needs roughly 60 to 67 kW of sanctioned load, so the fixed charge alone comes to around ₹4,500 a month before you sell a single unit. At a busy site that's small. At a quiet one, it eats most of the margin.

The regulator has also set out a path to move the EV category closer to the cost of supply from 2028-29 onwards, in steps. So don't assume today's rate lasts forever when you work out payback.

Getting the power connection

• Apply to your ESCOM for a connection under the EV charging category, LT-6(c) on low tension.
• LT is allowed up to 150 kW. Below that, you can also choose HT, with a minimum contract demand of 25 kVA.
• An HT connection is energised only after approval from the Electrical Inspectorate.

Under the Ministry of Power's 2024 guidelines, DISCOMs should connect a charging station within 3 days in metropolitan areas, 7 days in other municipal areas and 15 days in rural areas. For the full process, read our DC charger installation guide.

Road tax on electric cars from April 2026

Karnataka ended the road tax exemption for electric cars in April 2026. New e-cars now pay a lifetime tax of 5% up to ₹10 lakh, 8% from ₹10 to 25 lakh and 10% above ₹25 lakh, while electric two-wheelers stay exempt. It doesn't change anything for your station directly, but it may slow down new e-car sales a little, which is worth keeping in mind when you estimate demand. We've covered the details in our Karnataka EV road tax guide.

Where the demand is

Karnataka had about 6,100 public charging stations in December 2025, the most of any state, and around 85% of them are in Bengaluru Urban. If you're looking at a site inside Bengaluru, check what's already nearby, because a new station competes on location, price and reliability. Outside the city, corridors like Bengaluru to Mysuru and the Bengaluru to Pune highway, along with the bigger towns, have far fewer stations for the cars passing through.

Our data on public DC chargers across India shows the typical one is busy only about 2 hours a day, while the top tenth manage more than 11 hours. In a crowded city, the gap between those two often comes down to visibility, reliability and easy payment. Read how much an EV charging station earns per month.

Paying for it

SBI EV Mitra and Indian Bank's IND Green Charge both lend for charging stations. Read our EV charging station loans guide.

What we'd do in Karnataka

Inside Bengaluru, be choosy: pick a site with a real reason for drivers to stop, and make sure the station is easy to find and pay at. Outside the city, look hard at the corridors. Either way, size the connection to what you can fill, because the fixed charge runs every month. For a rough number, use our cost and earnings calculator, and when you're ready, book a site survey. New to this? Start with how to start an EV charging station business.