Karnataka woos US-based Triton to make EVs locally

“In a virtual meeting, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa assured the state government’s support to Triton founder-chief executive Himanshu Patel for making EVs at Ramanagara near Bengaluru,” said the official in a statement.

The New Jersey-based Triton EV is the second electric car maker to evince interest to invest in the southern state after the world’s leading EV maker Tesla announced in mid-January to set up its research and development (R&D) centre in this tech city before foraying into India with its EVs.

Triton EV is the arm of Triton Solar, which makes solar panels and batteries. It designs and builds products for car enthusiasts.

“Patel evinced interest to invest in Karnataka and said he would explore the prospects during his visit to India soon,” the official said.

As the state is keen to support the entry of new age firms like Triton, Yediyurappa told Patel that customised facilitation would be provided to roll out EVs.

The state government is setting up a EV cluster at Ramanagara, about 40km west of Bengaluru on way to Mysuru, in about 500 acres of land to create an EV ecosystem for electric car makers and vendors.

“We are revising our EV policy to make it more investor-friendly. Our new industrial policy lays stress on making Karnataka a part of the global supply chain across verticals,” said the official quoting the Chief Minister.State industry secretary Rajkumar Khatri told Patel that the state’s industrial policy focused on advance manufacturing, R&D and innovation to become first in the country’s innovation index.