New Delhi, Apr 19 (IANS): Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday said that India will become the top electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing hub in due course of time.

In his address at Amazon's Smbhav Summit 2021, the minister said that lithium-ion batteries will be fully manufactured in the country in the next six months.

"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," Gadkari said.

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 electricity 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 (EV) to 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.