EVs will cost the same as ICE vehicles: Nitin Gadkari

Within 2 years, the cost of petrol and diesel vehicles will be the same as that of an Electric Vehicle (EV), said Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari while addressing the 64th ACMA annual session.

Minister also said that he doesn’t have a problem with the Finance Minister giving subsidies on EVs after earlier suggesting that subsidies to EV makers are no longer needed as the cost of production has come down and consumers are now opting for electric vehicles (EVs) or CNG vehicles on their own.

Echoing a similar opinion, Bhavish Aggarwal, CMD, Ola Electric Mobility in an interview with ET Now said that EVs across different categories will be at par or cheaper than ICE (internal combustion engine) products soon.

Batteries account for around 40% of an EV’s price tag.

Even a report by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) last year suggested electric vehicles could hit price parity with fossil-fuel models in Europe in 2024 and the U.S. market in 2026.

The report predicted that battery costs should halve this decade, from $151 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in 2022 to between $60 and $90 per kWh, making EVs “for the first time as cheap to buy as petrol cars in every market by 2030 as well as cheaper to run.”