Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari believes that the cost of electric vehicles (EVs) will come down to a level that will be at par with their petrol variants. He added that the government is in the process of increasing the EV charging infrastructure.

I am confident that within one year or maximum up to two years, the cost of petrol vehicle and e-vehicle will be the same and the cost of fuel compared with petrol and electric, a huge margin is there,” the Cabinet minister stated.

“Already GST is only five per cent on the electric vehicle[s] as compared to petroleum vehicle; it is coming to 48 per cent. The other important thing is the government is giving space subsidy for e-vehicles and now day-by-day every company is going to reduce their cost. The cost of lithium-ion battery is also going to reduce,” he added.

He also believes that the economics surrounding EVs is very good in India given the low per kilometre cost, adding that electric vehicle sales do not need an artificial push. “The per kilometre cost of [a] petrol-based vehicle is Rs 10 per km, for diesel it is Rs 7 per km and for electric, it is only Re 1 per km,” the minister stated.

“The subject of alternate mobility is very close to my heart and I would like to focus on electric mobility. Nowadays, electric mobility is gaining good momentum in the country and it will be an important tool to develop pollution-free transport,” Gadkari said at the ‘Accelerate the phase-out of coal and speed up the switch to electric vehicles’ webinar organised by Denmark’s The Sustainability Foundation.

This address by Gadkari also assumes importance as the Centre is eyeing an EV sales penetration of 30 per cent for private cars, 40 per cent for buses, 70 per cent for commercial cars and 80 per cent for two and three wheelers by 2030.

The Cabinet minister said India will fulfill 50 per cent of its energy requirements via renewable energy sources by 2030 and plans to reduce its carbon emissions by 1 million tons between 2020-2030. He added that the country also plans to reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by ~45 per cent in keeping with the COP26 commitment to achieve net zero emissions target by 2070.

He added that there is no benefit of producing coal-based electricity and that the main focus is to produce electricity using renewable energy sources (solar, tidal, wind and biomass).