While global warming continues to pose a threat to the planet, it has become increasingly necessary for everyone to counter it in their own miniscule way. A conscious step towards reducing your carbon footprint is the need of the hour and one way to do it is to switch over from petrol and diesel vehicles to electric ones. The rising cost of fuel in the country also makes the electric vehicle more economical in the long run. But how do you get past the initial huge investment as electric vehicles are undeniably more expensive than the ones that run on diesel and petrol.

Well, there are companies that can convert your fuel vehicle into an electric one at a cost of around ₹ 4-5 lakh for standard vehicles. The motor’s watt power and the installed battery capacity play defining roles in determining the price. According to an ABP Live report, the cost can come up to ₹ 4 lakh for a 12 kilo-watt lithium-ion battery and a 20-kilowatt electric motor.

Most of the companies that do this for you are based out of Hyderabad. When the conversion is done, all mechanical parts are replaced. The fuel tank, the engine, the cable delivering power to the engine are all replaced by electric parts like roller, controller, motor, battery and battery charger. The total process can take up to 7 days.

Talking about the difference you would get in the cost per kilometer after the conversion, we can use the example of Tata Nexon that runs on petrol, diesel and electric as well. The Nexon’s electric version was introduced in December 2019. The fuel version of Nexon provides a mileage of 16 to 22 kilometers in petrol and diesel. Considering petrol price at ₹100 per litre and mileage at 16km/l, the cost of the car would be around 6.25 paise per kilometer. With diesel considered at ₹95 litre and mileage at 22 km/l, the cost comes to ₹4.31 per kilometer.

Now with the electric version of the Nexon, if we consider ₹ 6/unit as the electricity cost then it would cost ₹ 181.2 for getting charged fully. And then it would run for about 300km. In this way, its cost per kilometre will be close to 60 paise.