NEW DELHI: Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday expressed confidence that lithium-ion batteries would be manufactured fully in the country in the next six months and India will become the number one electric vehicle maker in the world in due course of time.

In his address at Amazon's Smbhav Summit 2021, Gadkari said "India is moving ahead towards making electric vehicles. In due course of time, we will be the number one electric vehicle maker in the world," Noting that India has got the tremendous capability for making green power, he said that: "We are power surplus... This is time for the Indian economy to use electric as power." Gadkari flagged off a fleet of electric vehicles of Amazon India virtually.

In a statement, Amazon India said that with the latest development, it reaffirmed its commitment towards the electrification of its last-mile delivery fleet to reduce its dependence on non-renewable resources.

Amazon India recently announced that it is working with Mahindra Electric to add more electric vehicles in its delivery fleet. Now, Hero Electric, as well as start-ups such as 'EVage', are engaging with Amazon India to expand the company's fleet of EVs to enable sustainable deliveries of customer orders.

Amazon India's Delivery Service Partners are already operating EVs of multiple formats in over 20 cities including Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Bhopal, Indore, and Coimbatore to name a few.

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