In India’s EV success, a blueprint for adoption of e-cooking

Electric vehicles (EVs) in India crossed a major milestone of 2 million registrations in 2025. Indeed, a big feat for a category that saw less than 50,000 registrations in a year till even just a decade ago. This has been driven by a combination of the right factors coming together over time. EV adoption in India has seen success due to strong government policy, lower operational costs compared to conventional fuels, rising consumer awareness, and global campaigns and adoption. A similar coming together of the right factors could also help position electric cooking (e-cooking) as a valid cooking fuel choice in India. 

Strong government policy support

Strong policy support from both the Centre and state governments laid the foundation for the massive uptake of EVs. The first step in this direction was the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) Scheme launched in 2015 and concluded in 2024. The FAME scheme was aimed at market creation and early adoption through infrastructure deployment, demand incentives and domestic manufacturing. While phase I of the scheme set the ball rolling, phase II of the scheme consolidated the gains, allowing for further market maturity with subsidies for advanced batteries only and promoting domestic manufacturing and assembly of EVs. 

Despite vastly different capital costs, the lessons from the EV growth seen in India could offer a policy blueprint for e-cooking.

For instance, a scheme similar to FAME could be immensely useful, focusing on market creation through FAME-like demand incentives, and reducing the upfront purchase costs for wider adoption. A policy promoting e-cooking in commercial spaces could also be beneficial, much like how state policies and the PM-eBus Sewa scheme was for electric buses. 

Operational cost advantages

Another factor that worked in favour of EVs in India was that it allowed savings in operational costs compared to conventional fuels. An analysis showed that an EV’s running cost is about 36% lower than that of the petrol version of the same car, a gap that rising petrol prices could have widened further. At the time, EVs were more capital intensive than petrol cars, closing the gap in operational costs savings. However, upfront price reduction helped promote EVs, which will soon be priced on par with petrol vehicles.

An IEEFA report published in October found similar operational cost savings in using e-cooking versus conventional fuels like liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and piped natural gas (PNG). Calculations showed that in fiscal year (FY) 2024-25, electric-based cooking for a family of four in the city of Delhi was 14% cheaper than using PNG, 37% cheaper than using non-subsidised LPG, and 10% cheaper than using universally subsidised LPG. 

E-cooking faces a similar barrier of high upfront capital cost in India and limited design options—challenges that strategic policy interventions, like those devised for EVs, could address.

Rising consumer awareness

An increased awareness of rising temperature, erratic weather patterns, carbon emissions, and lived experiences leading to greener lifestyle choices played a significant role in the adoption of EVs in India. In addition, multiple public awareness campaigns by the government, like NITI Aayog’s ‘Shoonya’ campaign and the e-Amrit awareness web portal, and Delhi government’s ‘Switch Delhi’ initiative, helped address the initial transition challenges to some extent. Now, even businesses are launching their own initiatives, such as JSW MG Motor’s ‘EV Sahi Hai’ campaign, to increase consumer awareness about EVs. 

Such an understanding needs to be extended to e-cooking as well via public awareness and demonstration campaigns.

Global campaigns and adoption

Global campaigns like the Clean Energy Ministerial’s EV 30@30, aiming for 30% new EV sales by 2030, and celebrating World EV day have boosted global EV awareness and purchase, including in India. In 2024, global EV sales reached a 20% share with emerging economies in Asia and Latin America rapidly expanding adoption. 

A similar trend can easily take place in India for e-cooking, as it is already picking up pace globally. 

Global coalitions and research programmes, like the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) and Global Electric Cooking Coalition (GeCCo), have been making massive efforts to promote clean cooking technologies, particularly e-cooking as it has been found to be more viable and cost-effective among different clean fuels. 

Similar to the strong EV adoption seen in Asia and Latin America, Africa could emerge as the hub of e-cooking uptake. Kenya, for instance, launched its national electric cooking strategy (KNeCS) in 2024 with the clear objective to transition 10% of all Kenyan households to e-cooking by 2028. Other African nations have also launched e-cooking awareness campaigns, such as Tanzania, where pilot e-cooking kitchens have been set up in schools in the capital. India can take inspiration from these examples and take advantage of the increasing electricity access in the country and a rapidly greening grid. 

Mirroring EVs’ success in e-cooking lies in the fact that it does not require large-scale deployment of private and public charging infrastructure. In fact, it would eliminate the need for dual connections for electricity and cooking fuels (LPG or PNG) in Indian homes, a transition actively being pursued in many advanced nations. Moreover, e-cooking offers benefits like higher efficiency, time savings, lower import dependence, and less indoor air pollution. It also allows for the possibility of technological advancements like precision cooking and smart cooktops. 

Strategic policy interventions and a nudge in the right direction could make e-cooking a huge success in India.

This article was first published by WEF.