Gadkari Proposes ₹3/Unit Night EV Charging for Maharashtra

Representative image (AI-generated)

Nitin Gadkari has a new number for Maharashtra's EV charging rates, and this time it's the night slot that's cheap.

Speaking at the KPMG ENRich 2026 Innovation Awards, the Union road transport minister proposed a two-tier EV charging tariff for the state: ₹3 per unit at night and ₹5 per unit during the day. On his own maths, that works out to roughly ₹600 to charge enough for a 1,000 km trip at night, against ₹7,414 for the same distance in a petrol car and ₹6,522 in a diesel car — figures built on a 5 km/kWh EV, a 15 kmpl petrol car, and Mumbai's ₹111.21-a-litre petrol price.

Run that over a year of driving (1,000 km a month) and the gap only widens: about ₹7,200 a year for the EV against roughly ₹88,968 for petrol and ₹78,264 for diesel, putting the annual saving at close to ₹81,768 and ₹71,064.

Still just a proposal

None of this is policy yet. Gadkari has put the idea to the Maharashtra government, and the state would have to notify it through its own tariff process before any EV owner actually sees ₹3 a unit on a bill.

The number keeps moving

This is Gadkari's second EV charging pitch to Maharashtra in a week, and the shape of it has flipped. At the EKA Mobility "Avirbhava" event in Pune on 30 October, with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the room, he had asked for ₹5 a unit between 8 am and 6 pm and ₹8–10 a unit after 6 pm, on top of a cut to the ₹22-a-unit charge at highway chargers. Back then, night was the costlier slot. Six days later, the day rate has stayed at ₹5, but night charging has swung from the expensive end to the cheap one, at ₹3. Fadnavis had responded to the October pitch by saying the state would start the process to bring rates down, pointing to Maharashtra's surplus solar power.

What this means for you

If ₹3-a-unit night charging actually lands, it rewards exactly the habit most home EV owners already have: plugging in after dinner. A roughly 40 kWh pack, the size in a Nexon EV, would cost about ₹120 for a full charge at that rate, against ₹200 at the ₹5 day rate and well over ₹1,500 in petrol for comparable range. For now, treat it as a number to watch on your next bill, not one to bank on — and if you want to see how your own EV's running costs stack up, our EV running-cost calculator does the math for your vehicle and commute.

Sources: BusinessToday (primary, Rs 3/5 proposal and cost math), Whalesbook (corroboration), Autocar Professional (30 October EKA event, for the "number keeps moving" context)