“Shocking how little people understand the savings EVs bring!” Bhavish Aggarwal says EVs are 90% cheaper than petrol scooters

In a candid post that has reignited the electric vehicle debate, Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal made a striking assertion that electric two-wheelers are not marginally cheaper to run than petrol scooters, but they are 90% cheaper.

The surprise, he suggested, isn’t the math itself, but how poorly the industry has communicated it so far.

Bhavish Aggarwal claims EVs are 90% cheaper than petrol scooters

“Shocking how little people understand the savings EVs bring!” Aggarwal wrote on X. “Truth is EVs are 90% cheaper! We should have marketed this better and now we will do it.”

He argued that the most tangible factor for Indian consumers is the daily running cost.

The comparison begins with a typical internal combustion engine (ICE) two-wheeler. At an average fuel efficiency of 50 kilometres per litre and petrol priced at ₹100 per litre, the cost works out to roughly ₹2 per kilometre.

For millions of riders who commute 30–40 kilometres a day, the entrepreneur reasoned that fuel alone becomes a significant monthly expense.

Now consider the electric alternative. Ola’s electric two-wheelers, Aggarwal said, consume about 30 watt-hours per kilometre. That translates to roughly 33 kilometres per unit of electricity.

At an average residential electricity tariff of ₹6.5 per unit, the cost comes to just ₹0.20 per kilometre.

The difference is stark. For every kilometre ridden, an EV rider saves about ₹1.80. Over 1,000 kilometres, that’s ₹1,800 saved. Over a year, the savings can comfortably run into tens of thousands of rupees, often enough to offset the higher upfront cost of an electric scooter within a short ownership period.

“This is on us,” Aggarwal admitted, acknowledging that EV makers have not emphasised this advantage strongly enough.

With fuel prices remaining volatile and urban commuting costs rising, the company now plans to foreground operating economics rather than futuristic features alone.

For many riders, it’s about something far simpler, like paying 20 paisa instead of ₹2 every time the wheels turn.

Shocking how little people understand the savings EVs bring!

Truth is EVs are 90% cheaper! We should have marketed this better and now we will do it.

Here’s the math:

Fuel efficiency of an ICE 2W - 50 kmpl. At ₹100 pl petrol, that is ₹2 per km.

Our 2W EVs run at 30 Wh/km.…

— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) January 21, 2026

Also read: “Insurance is half price when Tesla self-driving is activated, because it increases safety so much,” says Elon Musk (startuppedia.in)