Rs 600 for 1,000 km journey: Nitin Gadkari proposes Rs 3 per unit for EV charging at night and Rs 5 during the day to boost electric vehicle adoption

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has suggested Maharashtra Chief Minister to charge Rs 3 per unit for electricity at night and Rs 5 during the day, proposing different tariffs to encourage electric vehicle (EV) charging. He said the state could use solar power during the day and offer cheaper electricity at night.

Speaking at KPMG ENRich 2026, Gadkari said he had made the suggestion to the Maharashtra Chief Minister. He also asked the audience how many people owned electric vehicles. Around 20-25% raised their hands, he said, before predicting that the figure would reach 35-40% the following year.

“Next year, 35-40% of you will be using electric vehicles,” Gadkari told the gathering.

How much would it cost to travel 1,000 km in an EV, petrol and diesel car?

At an electricity tariff of Rs 3 per unit and an assumed efficiency of 5 km per unit, an electric car would need 200 units of electricity to cover 1,000 km, costing just Rs 600. A petrol car delivering 15 km per litre would need around 66.67 litres, costing approximately Rs 7,414 at Mumbai's assumed petrol price of Rs 111.21 per litre. A diesel car with the same mileage would cost around Rs 6,522, based on a diesel price of Rs 97.83 per litre. This means the EV could save around Rs 6,814 compared with the petrol car and Rs 5,922 compared with the diesel car over 1,000 km.

EV battery costs, EV buses

He spoke about battery costs, electric buses and hydrogen-powered vehicles as part of his account of the alternative fuel technologies being developed in India. He said lithium-ion battery prices had fallen from around $150 per kilowatt-hour to $50 per kilowatt-hour, although demand remained higher than supply.

Gadkari said India manufactured around 6,000 electric buses annually and would need 10,000 in the next two years. He referred to electric buses made by Volvo, Ashok Leyland, Mercedes-Benz and Tata, and also mentioned the electric double-decker bus launched in Mumbai.

The minister said three hydrogen-powered Tata trucks were being developed, with two running on hydrogen internal combustion engines and the third using a fuel cell. He also spoke about plans for 10 hydrogen routes, along with filling stations being developed with companies such as Ashok Leyland, Volvo, Tata, HPCL and Reliance. He said the routes and stations would be launched within four months.

Nitin Gadkari on ethanol cars and Rs 25 per litre running cost

From electric vehicles, Gadkari moved to ethanol and the use of biofuels in cars and two-wheelers. He said around four crore four-wheelers and 20 crore two-wheelers were using E20 fuel, which contains 20% ethanol.

He announced that a Toyota Innova capable of running on 100% bioethanol would be launched during the month. Gadkari said he had been using the vehicle for around one-and-a-half years and claimed its running cost was equivalent to petrol costing Rs 25 per litre.

He compared this with ethanol priced at around Rs 75 per litre and petrol at around Rs 120 per litre. He also said Tata, Mahindra, Toyota, Suzuki and Hyundai were working on flex-fuel cars. Bajaj, TVS, Hero and Honda were developing two-wheelers capable of running on 100% bioethanol, he added.

Gadkari listed corn, broken rice, sugarcane juice, molasses and bamboo as sources for ethanol production. He referred to the bamboo-based ethanol plant at Numaligarh and discussed the impact of ethanol production on corn prices.

According to him, corn prices had increased from Rs 1,100 per quintal to Rs 1,800 per quintal. He claimed that farmers in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar had received Rs 45,000 crore through the corn-based ethanol industry.

He also spoke about experiments to produce isobutanol from sugarcane juice. Trials were under way at the Automotive Research Association of India, with experiments involving its use in diesel, he said.

Gadkari mentioned the use of rectified spirit to produce sustainable aviation fuel. He referred to flights operated by SpiceJet between Dehradun and Delhi and by Vistara as examples of aviation fuel trials.

Gobardhan scheme and Punjab's stubble burning problem

Gadkari also discussed converting agricultural residue into compressed biogas (CBG), particularly rice straw left behind after paddy harvesting. The issue is significant in Punjab, where farmers burn paddy stubble after harvesting their crops.

He said around 3,000 plants had registered under the Gobardhan scheme, with 280 already started. The plants can use agricultural waste to produce bio-CNG, creating another use for residue that is otherwise often burned in fields.

Gadkari said five tonnes of rice straw could produce one tonne of bio-CNG. He also cited other agricultural materials, saying 12 tonnes of cotton straw and 14 tonnes of Napier grass could produce one tonne of the fuel.

He said the government had also given 25 people permission to produce bio-bitumen from agricultural residue. Gadkari cited a one-kilometre road built using the material on the Nagpur-Jabalpur National Highway. He said India required around 125 lakh tonnes of bitumen annually, of which around half came from domestic refineries and the rest was imported.

He also spoke about converting municipal waste into fuel and using it in road construction. Citing Delhi's Ghazipur landfill, he said its height had been reduced by seven metres. He said around 80 lakh tonnes of waste had been used in projects including Urban Extension Road-II, Dwarka Expressway and the Delhi-Mumbai Highway.

Gadkari referred to a waste-processing project in Nagpur with a capacity of 32 tonnes a day. It was then producing around 16-18 tonnes daily, and he expected it to reach full capacity within one to two months.

He also cited Nagpur's treated sewage water project, saying the municipal corporation earned around Rs 300 crore annually by selling treated water to the Khaparkheda and Koradi power projects.