9OCTOBER 2025FIRST ELECTRIC TRUCK CHARGING STATION OPENS IN INDIAKARNATAKA LAUNCHES INDIA'S FIRST SPACE TECH COEKarnataka escorts in a NewSpace milestone for India's "NewSpace" ecosystem by being the first to open a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Space Technology at the state-level in the country.The centre has been conceived as a result of a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed between the Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS) and the SatCom Industry Association (SIA-India), where the CoE means that the aerospace as well as the space sectors will be Referring to the launch of this initiative by Energy in Motion as historic, Gadkari states that India spends nearly Rs 25 lakh crore on fuel imports annually. If we save this expenditure by recommending alternative energy, this expenditure can be invested in the development of India, which would help us move faster towards the vision of a developed India.An official release quoting Gadkari specified that special attention is being placed on lowering the country's logistics cost.The Government is looking to bring it down to single digit (below 9 percent) by December 2026. To achieve the target, highway network is being strengthened while multi-modal infrastructure is being created by combining waterways, rail and road transport, he said.Reducing logistics costs would benefit traders and industrialists and also reduce the transportation of farmers' produce, he added. Emphasizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambition to transform India into a green energy center, Gadkari stressed energy generation from agriculture, saying the government has recently allowed the production of ethanol from maize, he said.As a result, he said, not only has demand for maize increased, the price of maize has gone from Rs 1,200 per quintal to Rs 2,800 per quintal. the areas of technological advancements where KITS will be working along these lines of research.As a nodal point for research & development, startup incubation, and skilled human resource training, the facility located in Bengaluru shall help in bringing under one roof the government departments, industry leaders, academic institutions, and startups. The key focus areas include MOD, satellite components, AI-powered data analytics, and creating a thriving NewSpace startup ecosystem.This step is one of the several May 2025 MoUs set by Karnataka with IN-SPACe to create a Centre of Excellence for Space Technologies and establish a public-private space manufacturing park that aims to help India achieve its goal of taking a share from the predicted Rs 1.8 lakh crore domestic space market by 2033.Leading industry personalities, including startups like Skyroot Aerospace and Agnikul Cosmos, as well as well-established companies such as HAL, BEL, and BHEL, would be able to take advantage of the upgraded infrastructure, prototype funding, and collaboration opportunities.Karnataka's CoE is a strong signal for India's focus on building domestic space capabilities and plays a significant role in creating the space for innovation, entrepreneurship, & global competitiveness in the sector of space technology. The nation's first commercial electric truck battery swapping/charging station, constructed by Energy in Motion, was officially opened by Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday at Delhi International Cargo Terminal Private Limited (DICT) in the village of Panchi Gujran.
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