Cost of electric vehicles will be on a par with petrol variants in 2 years: Nitin Gadkari

New Delhi: Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari said that the cost of electric vehicles (EV) in India will drop to the level of petrol vehicles in the next two years.

“Within two years, the cost of EVs will come down to a level that will be at par with their petrol variants. Already GST is only 5% on EVs and the cost of lithium ion batteries is also declining. Besides, the government has already framed a policy allowing petrol pumps to set up EV charging stations. In two years there will be a lot charging points across India as well,” Gadkari said at a webinar, organised by The Sustainability Foundation, Denmark, on accelerating the phasing out of coal and switching to electric vehicles, in the national capital on Sunday evening.

“Electric mobility is gaining good momentum in the country. There is no artificial push required. The per kilometre cost of petrol-based vehicle is ₹10, that of diesel is ₹7/km, whereas for EVs, it is ₹1/km,” he said.