‘The largest bet this year for me…’: Why Nikhil Kamath believes EVs are the next big money move

Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath said that his biggest bet this year has been electric vehicles. He said they invested in everything from scooters and buses to trucks and hopefully will invest in air taxis next.

Kamath had earlier too said he was bullish on the sector. In one of the episodes from his podcast, ‘WTF is with Nikhil Kamath’, the billionaire had said that sectors such as electric vehicle companies, battery manufacturers, and solar energy firms are particularly lucrative. 

In a social media post on Wednesday, Kamath said: “The largest bet this year for me has been that all vehicles will be electric someday; we have invested in everything from scooters to buses to trucks to maybe air taxis next…”

He said the transition to electric vehicles could be expedited by learning about climate problems. “Plus, the drop in the cost per km of commute will, we hope, make good for the initial arbitrage in capex,” he said. 

Along with the social media post, he also put up snapshots of a FinFloww and Gruhas research that stated that renewable energy accounts for 46.3 per cent of India’s total installed capacity as of October 2024. This growth, the research added, is in line with India’s target of 500 GW or 50 per cent of energy from renewables by 2030. 

The research also backed the importance of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) that can store excess energy when demand is low and release it during peak hours. The research added that BESS can cut energy bill by reducing peak demand charges, provide backup during power outages, lower fossil fuel use and cut emissions, and stabilise the grid by balancing demand and supply. 

In an earlier episode in his podcast, featuring Badshah, Kriti Sanon and KL Rahul, Kamath said energy transition sector is a key area of opportunity. “Energy transition is such a big thing in the world; most wars in our history have been fought over it,” Kamath said.

Kamath said that the energy sector might not be very glamorous but it offers substantial profitability, especially in light of the government incentives. He advised entrepreneurs to avoid overcrowded industries.