The minister added that Ola would soon start producing lithium-ion batteries in the country. He said that Lithium-ion batteries costed INR 150 per KW, now has come down to INR 105 and within two years, it will be lower.
Gadkari also talked about the possibility of a mix of lithium-ion, zinc-ion and aluminum-ion batteries, which would cut the cost of making batteries, in turn cutting the cost of electric vehicles.
About India's potential to export, Gadkari said that good quality vehicles were needed. He added that EV two wheelers could be exported to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and African countries. India, led by Bajaj and Hero, currently exports 50%of its two wheelers.
He said that the future for the EV market was bright and that the country aimed to be the world's leading automobile producer in the next five years. To achieve this, he said that good quality, low maintenance, and use of right technology is important.
"Honesty, quality and credibility is the biggest capital of 21st century. converting knowledge and waste into wealth is the future," said Gadkari.
He also urged companies to set up scrapping plants so that production cost would be reduced through recycling and products' price would be reduced by 30%without compromising on quality.
Alternate fuel
During the address, Gadkari focussed on the need to shift to alternate fuel to reduce pollution. He emphasised on India's potential to produce alternate fuel and vehicles using such technology.
"Indian Oil has started a project to produce 1 lakh crore liters of ethanol from rice straw, and 88,000 tonne of bio-aviation fuel. Bio fuel is very important," said Gadkari, adding that research was begun for the production of ethanol from sugarcane, corn, bamboo and rice straw.
He termed hydrogen as the future fuel and said that it could be cheap if produced from municipal waste. "50 units of electricity is needed to produce for 1 kg hydrogen, so organic waste is the way forward," added Gadkari.
Indian automobile market
The minister spoke about the Indian automobile industry and said that i n the last decade it had grown from a INR 7 lakh crore industry to a 22 lakh crore market, making it the third largest in the world.
Gadkari added that the sector contributed to maximum exports and GST collection. "50%of two wheeler industry's earnings comes from from exports," he said.
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