Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana are emerging as India’s most integrated electric vehicle (EV) hubs, with manufacturing investments, charging infrastructure and consumer adoption reinforcing each other at a scale unmatched by other regions in the country, according to a report by JMK Research & Analytics.

The report, titled ‘India EV Market FY26’, said Karnataka accounted for 6,096 of India’s 29,151 public charging stations as of December 2025, giving it a 20.91 per cent share and placing it ahead of Maharashtra, which had 4,166 charging stations or a 14.29 per cent share. Tamil Nadu added another 1,780 charging stations, while Telangana had 1,062.

Together, the three states command over 30 per cent of all public charging infrastructure in the country, on top of hosting some of the most consequential manufacturing investments the Indian electric vehicle sector has seen.

Tamil Nadu is the anchor of this southern industrial corridor. VinFast inaugurated its EV assembly plant at the SIPCOT Industrial Park in Thoothukudi in August 2025 — its first facility outside Vietnam, with a starting capacity of 50,000 vehicles per year, scalable to 1,50,000 units annually.

Royal Enfield, headquartered in Chennai, is setting up an exclusive EV manufacturing space within its facility at Vallam Vadagal for its newly launched Flying Flea electric brand, while it has also acquired a 60-acre land parcel in Cheyyar on the outskirts of Chennai, likely to be the key production base for its two-wheeled EVs going forward.

TVS Motor, also Chennai-based, claimed the top position in India’s electric two-wheeler market in FY2026 with a 24.40 per cent share, up from 20.84 per cent the previous year.

Tamil Nadu has emerged as the anchor of the southern EV manufacturing corridor. VinFast inaugurated its EV assembly plant at the SIPCOT Industrial Park in Thoothukudi in August 2025, marking the Vietnamese automaker’s first manufacturing facility outside Vietnam. The plant has an initial annual production capacity of 50,000 vehicles, scalable to 1,50,000 units.

Karnataka is where the startup layer sits. River Mobility manufactures out of Hoskote. Ather Energy, Bengaluru-born, jumped from 11.60 per cent to 17.38 per cent market share in FY2026, a near-six percentage point gain driven by deepening capacity and a retail network anchored in the South.

Ola Electric, also headquartered in Bengaluru, told a different story — its share collapsed from 29.76 per cent in FY2025 to 11.50 per cent, a loss of 18.26 percentage points, the steepest single-year decline among major players.

VinFast’s CEO Pham Sanh Chau, speaking at the Tamil Nadu plant inauguration, said the company aims to develop the Thoothukudi facility into an export hub for South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa signalling that Tamil Nadu’s ambitions extend well beyond the domestic market. The consumers, the chargers, and the factories are all pointing in the same direction and right now, that direction is south.