ThunderPlus, Turno to Develop Megawatt EV Charging Network in India

Indian electric vehicle charging solutions provider ThunderPlus has partnered with commercial EV financing firm Turno to establish a megawatt charging network aimed at supporting the adoption of heavy-duty electric vehicles across the country.

The companies plan to deploy 1 MW charging stations along key highways, initially focusing on the Hyderabad-Vizag corridor, a 600+ km stretch linking the southern states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The rollout will take place in two phases, beginning with chargers on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada route before expanding to Vijayawada-Vizag.

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“We are starting with the Hyderabad and Vijayawada route and we would be expanding this partnership to the Vijayawada-Vizag route,” said Sudhindra Reddy, co-founder and COO of Turno. He added that the partners aim to install more than 100 charging stations nationwide by 2027. “Through this collaboration, Electrigo [a subsidiary of Turno] aims to replace 10 crore bus kilometres of diesel consumption with electric by the end of 2026, marking a significant step towards a cleaner, more sustainable future.” ThunderPlus is expected to source, install, and operate the chargers.

While the charging network is primarily designed for electric buses, ThunderPlus indicated that it will be open to private EV users and commercial truck operators as well. Despite trucks comprising only 3% of vehicles on Indian roads, they contribute to over 34% of CO2 emissions and 53% of particulate matter emissions in the transport sector.

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The initiative aligns with ThunderPlus’ ‘One District, One Thunder’ programme, which aims to install at least one high-powered charger in every district across India. The effort comes as India’s Ministry of Heavy Industries has allocated 500 crore rupees (approximately 53 million euros) in subsidies for electric trucks, compared to 4,391 crore rupees (466 million euros) for electric buses.