ISTANBUL

Sri Lanka has urged electric vehicle users to charge during the daytime to ease pressure on the national grid amid an ongoing energy crunch.

“We have an electricity surplus during the daytime. So, we urge EV users to charge their vehicles during the daytime,” President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said in a televised address Tuesday.

He said nighttime electricity demand has increased by about 300 megawatts due to EV charging, the local newspaper Daily Mirror reported.

The appeal comes as Sri Lanka rolls out measures to manage fuel shortages linked to the Middle East conflict. These include weekly fuel rationing, declaring Wednesdays a public holiday, and an odd-even fuel distribution system based on vehicle number plates to reduce congestion.

Authorities are also seeking emergency fuel supplies through diplomatic and commercial channels. Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody told Parliament the government is trying to procure fuel from reserves released by the International Energy Agency.

However, the main challenge is no longer funding but securing vessels to transport fuel due to rising insurance costs and security risks, the newspaper cited him as saying.

The crisis follows escalating tensions in the Middle East after US-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, which Tehran says killed more than 1,300 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and security chief Ali Larijani.

Iran has retaliated with drone and missile attacks across the region and has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil transit route handling about 20 million barrels per day and roughly 20% of global liquefied natural gas trade, disrupting global energy markets.