Which is Cheaper over 14 Years of Use: Maruti Suzuki e Vitara or Victoris?

The launch of the Maruti Suzuki e Vitara on February 17, 2026 has given Indian car buyers a rare opportunity: two SUVs from the same manufacturer, one electric and one petrol, priced in the same band, aimed at the same buyer. The e Vitara starts at ₹10.99 lakh under the Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) model, while the Victoris starts at ₹10.50 lakh for the base petrol variant. The natural question for any prospective buyer is: which one costs less to own over the lifetime of the vehicle?

This analysis attempts to answer that question. We use a 14-year ownership horizon (a reasonable assumption for the typical lifespan of a car in India), a monthly usage of 1,850 km (or roughly 22,200 km per year), and the financial data Maruti Suzuki has released for the e Vitara's BaaS programme. For the Victoris, we assume an all-inclusive running cost of ₹12–15 per km—a figure that covers fuel, routine servicing, consumables, and regular maintenance, but excludes the capital cost of the car and depreciation.

It is worth noting upfront: there are significant grey areas in the e Vitara's ownership proposition that Maruti Suzuki has not fully addressed yet. We flag these throughout the analysis.

The Upfront Cost: What You Pay to Drive Away

The e Vitara is offered in three variants—Delta (49 kWh battery), Zeta (61 kWh), and Alpha (61 kWh)—while the Victoris spans six trims across petrol, CNG, and strong hybrid powertrains. For a meaningful comparison, we match them roughly by feature level and price band:

The upfront premium for the e Vitara ranges from roughly ₹0.70 lakh to ₹1.70 lakh over a comparably-equipped Victoris petrol automatic variant. This is a remarkably narrow gap for an EV-vs-petrol comparison, and it exists almost entirely because of a massive structural tax advantage. The e Vitara, as an electric vehicle, attracts just 5% GST. The Victoris, at over 4 metres in length with a 1.5-litre petrol engine (exceeding the 1,200cc threshold for the lower 18% slab), falls squarely in the 40% GST bracket under the post-September 2025 regime. That 35-percentage-point tax differential is what allows Maruti to price a car carrying a ₹5–5.5 lakh battery pack within touching distance of its petrol sibling. Without this tax asymmetry, the e Vitara would be ₹3–4 lakh more expensive than the Victoris at equivalent trim levels.

Under the BaaS model, however, the comparison shifts dramatically. BaaS separates the battery cost from the chassis, financing them independently:

The BaaS chassis price is substantially lower than the comparable Victoris—the Delta BaaS chassis, at ₹10.99 lakh ex-showroom, actually undercuts the base Victoris LXi at ₹10.50 lakh by only ₹49,000, while offering a feature set closer to a mid-variant Victoris. But this lower initial outflow is deceptive: the battery cost doesn't disappear; it merely shifts into an EMI that runs for eight years.

The Finance Picture: EMIs and What They Really Cost

Maruti Suzuki's BaaS data (at assumed interest rates of 9% on chassis and 9.25% on battery, with ~93% loan-to-value on the chassis) gives us the following EMI comparison:

The critical detail: the chassis EMI runs for 60 months (5 years), but the battery EMI runs for 96 months (8 years). So for the first five years, you pay both EMIs. In years six through eight, you pay only the battery EMI. After year eight, both EMIs end.

For the Zeta variant, the total outgo under BaaS works out to:

• Chassis EMI: ₹23,707 × 60 = ₹14,22,420
• Battery EMI: ₹8,129 × 96 = ₹7,80,384
• Chassis down payment (est. 7% of chassis on-road): ~₹1,27,000
• Total finance outgo: ~₹23,30,000

Under standard finance:

• EMI: ₹33,983 × 60 = ₹20,38,980
• Down payment (est.): ~₹1,82,000
• Total finance outgo: ~₹22,21,000

BaaS actually costs you roughly ₹1.09 lakh more over the repayment period than standard finance for the Zeta variant. The benefit is not overall savings—it is cash-flow management. Your monthly outgo is lower in the first five years, and the battery cost is spread over a longer tenor, making the e Vitara more accessible to buyers who would otherwise find the EMI prohibitive.

Running Costs Over 14 Years: Where the EV Shines—and Where the Questions Begin

This is where the electric powertrain's inherent efficiency advantage shows itself most clearly. At our assumed usage of 1,850 km per month (22,200 km/year), the owner will cover approximately 3,10,800 km over 14 years. This is high usage—considerably above the average Indian private car owner's annual distance—and it is precisely this kind of heavy use that theoretically favours EVs the most.

The Petrol Victoris

Using the user-assumed running cost of ₹12–15 per km (covering fuel, servicing, consumables, and regular maintenance, but not capital or depreciation):

For context: At current petrol prices (~₹105–110/litre in metros), a Victoris petrol automatic returning a real-world mileage of 14–16 kmpl would incur a fuel cost alone of ₹6.90–7.85 per km. Add routine servicing (oil changes, filters, brake pads, tyres, clutch/transmission service, etc.) over 14 years and 3.1 lakh km, and ₹12–15 per km is a reasonable, if slightly conservative, assumption. Major repairs—engine overhaul, gearbox issues—would push this higher.

The e Vitara

The e Vitara's running cost has three distinct components:

1. Electricity cost: At home-charging rates of roughly ₹8–9 per kWh, and a real-world energy consumption of approximately 14–16 kWh per 100 km (the 61 kWh Zeta/Alpha claims 543 km ARAI range; real-world range is typically 60–70% of that), the per-km electricity cost works out to roughly ₹1.20–1.45 per km. Including some public fast-charging at higher rates (₹15–18/kWh), a blended average of ₹1.50–2.00 per km is realistic.

2. Maintenance: EVs have far fewer moving parts—no engine oil, no spark plugs, no fuel filters, no clutch, no exhaust system. Brake wear is also lower thanks to regenerative braking. A reasonable estimate for EV maintenance (tyres, suspension, brake fluid, cabin filter, coolant, wiper blades, and general servicing) over 14 years is roughly ₹0.40–0.60 per km, or about ₹1,500–2,000 per month at this usage level. This is a tentative estimate; the e Vitara is too new for actual long-term service cost data to be available.

3. Battery EMI under BaaS (for years 1–8 only): The BaaS battery EMI is a fixed cost of ₹7,390/month (Delta) or ₹8,129/month (Zeta/Alpha), running for 96 months. Expressed per km at 1,850 km/month, this is ₹3.99/km (Delta) or ₹4.39/km (Zeta/Alpha). However, this is not a true running cost—it is a capital recovery instalment for the battery. If you drive fewer kilometres in a given month, the per-km cost rises; if you drive more, it falls. It is, functionally, an EMI.

Recognising this distinction, here is the e Vitara Zeta's 14-year running cost, split into phases:

Years 1–8 (battery EMI active):

*The battery EMI is included here because under BaaS, it is billed alongside running costs. In a standard purchase, the battery cost is folded into the car's upfront price.

Years 9–14 (no EMIs):

14-year total running cost (e Vitara Zeta, BaaS): ~₹14.60 lakh

Compare this with the Victoris petrol: ₹37.30–46.62 lakh.

Even if we strip out the battery EMI from the e Vitara's running cost (since it's really a capital expenditure), the pure running cost (electricity + maintenance) over 14 years works out to approximately ₹6.80 lakh—a staggering ₹30–40 lakh less than the petrol car's running cost.

The Total Picture: Capital + Running Cost Over 14 Years

Here's where we bring it all together. We compare two scenarios: the e Vitara Zeta (BaaS) and a comparably-equipped Victoris petrol automatic (approximately ZXi AT trim level). Both are financed at similar terms.

Scenario A: e Vitara Zeta under BaaS

Scenario B: Victoris ZXi AT (Petrol)

The Verdict on Raw Numbers

The e Vitara Zeta costs roughly ₹31 lakh less than the Victoris over 14 years. Even under the most conservative battery replacement assumptions, the gap exceeds ₹26 lakh.

At the lower running-cost assumption of ₹12/km for petrol, the Victoris total comes to roughly ₹57.60 lakh, and the saving is about ₹26.50 lakh. At the higher ₹15/km assumption, the Victoris total is ₹66.92 lakh, and the saving is about ₹35.80 lakh.

The EV advantage is overwhelming for a high-usage owner. The higher the annual mileage, the faster the e Vitara's lower running cost offsets its higher upfront price. At 1,850 km per month, the break-even point is reached in under two years.

The Grey Areas: What is not clear

The BaaS slides Maruti presented are impressively detailed on the financing mechanics, but they go quiet on a question that matters enormously over a 14-year ownership horizon: what happens after month 97?

To be fair, this is less a case of Maruti hiding something uncomfortable and more a reflection of genuine uncertainty. Battery technology is evolving at a pace that makes long-term cost projections genuinely difficult — for the manufacturer as much as for the buyer.

Here is what we do know, and what we can reasonably project. A replacement battery for a car of this class today would cost roughly ₹4–5 lakh. In eight years, assuming the trajectory of battery cost reduction that has already played out in the industry continues — and there is strong reason to believe it will — a like-for-like replacement could realistically cost in the region of ₹80,000 to ₹1 lakh. That is the number we have used in the cost comparison in this article, and it is arguably a conservative one.

The more interesting possibility, however, is that nobody buying an eight-year-old e Vitara in 2034 is actually going to go for a like-for-like replacement. By that point, battery chemistry and packaging will have advanced enough that a superior unit — offering meaningfully more range, fitting the same or smaller dimensions, with better thermal management — will likely be available in the ₹2–2.5 lakh range. Owners will face not a grudging maintenance decision but a genuine upgrade choice, one that could substantially extend the useful life and daily appeal of their car. Think of it less like replacing an old engine and more like fitting a significantly better one.

The low-usage scenario changes things considerably

Everything above assumes the high-usage case of 1,850 km per month. But what if your usage is closer to 500 km per month — which, frankly, describes a large proportion of urban car owners in India who use their car primarily for commuting and weekend runs?

At that usage level, the battery story looks quite different. EV battery degradation is driven by a combination of charge cycles and calendar ageing. A user driving only 500 km a month is completing far fewer cycles, and modern lithium-ion chemistries age reasonably well under light-cycle conditions. It is quite plausible — not optimistic, but genuinely plausible — that such a battery would retain acceptable capacity for 11 to 12 years rather than 8.

But here is the subtle twist: even if your battery is performing perfectly well at the end of the 8-year BaaS period, you may well choose to replace it anyway. Not because you have to, but because the cheap, superior options available at that point make it an obvious decision. If a ₹1.5–2 lakh battery can take your e Vitara's range from, say, 350 km to 500 km — plausible given the direction of energy density improvements — that is less a repair and more a meaningful upgrade to a car whose body, suspension, electronics and interior are still in good shape. Low-usage owners could find themselves in the enviable position of choosing an upgrade rather than managing a failure.

Variant-Wise Summary

For completeness, here is the approximate total cost of ownership across all three e Vitara variants and their petrol counterparts, using the same methodology. All figures are rounded.

(Running cost for all Victoris variants assumed at ₹13.50/km. Actual costs may vary by variant due to differences in weight, transmission efficiency, and driving conditions.)

The Bottom Line

If you are a high-mileage driver and plan to keep your car for 10–14 years, the e Vitara is substantially cheaper to own—by ₹26–36 lakh, depending on variant and assumptions. The maths is unambiguous: the electric powertrain's running cost advantage is simply too large for the petrol car's lower upfront price to overcome. And the battery replacement concern—the most common objection to long-term EV ownership—is, at projected 2034 prices, likely to be a relatively modest expense rather than the financial catastrophe it is often made out to be.

For a lower-mileage driver, the picture is more nuanced — but it is more favourable than the headline numbers suggest, for a reason that rarely gets discussed. Consider someone who currently drives only 500 km per month, and consciously keeps it that way. Ask them why, and many will tell you, without quite realising it, that they are rationing their car use because every extra kilometre costs money they can feel. Petrol has a way of making each trip a small financial decision. Once that cost drops to ₹1.50–2 per km instead of ₹12–15, the psychological brake lifts. The same person who drove 500 km a month in their petrol car may quite naturally find themselves driving 1,000 or even 1,500 km a month in their EV — not because their needs changed, but because the guilt of driving did. This is a well-observed behavioural pattern among EV adopters, and it is worth accounting for honestly: a buyer who estimates their usage at 500 km per month today may not be a “low-usage” EV owner in practice. If your usage doubles after switching, your savings calculation should be based on the new usage, not the old habit.

That said, even a genuinely low-usage owner has reason for optimism. At 500 km per month, the battery’s reduced cycle load means it could comfortably last 11–12 years without significant capacity loss. By the time the BaaS period ends, any replacement decision may be entirely voluntary — driven by the opportunity to fit a cheap, superior battery that meaningfully boosts range, not by a battery that has given up. For those who truly do drive infrequently, the Victoris Strong Hybrid remains a pragmatic alternative, offering 70–80% of the EV’s fuel savings with a conventional ownership experience. But before steering toward that choice, it is worth asking one question honestly: will I actually keep driving as little as I do today, once the cost of every kilometre drops to almost nothing?

The e Vitara is, on paper, a compelling value proposition for the right buyer. The battery replacement question — long the Achilles’ heel of the EV cost argument — is far less alarming than it once appeared. At projected 2034 cell prices, a replacement pack is likely to cost ₹80,000–1 lakh for a like-for-like unit. The more realistic scenario, however, is that owners will upgrade rather than merely replace: a superior battery offering significantly more range could be available by then at ₹2–2.5 lakh, turning what was once feared as a financial burden into something closer to a mid-life refresh for the car. What remains is a different kind of uncertainty: not whether the e Vitara saves money — it does, and by a wide margin for high-usage owners — but whether Maruti Suzuki’s service ecosystem, battery supply chain, and BaaS contract terms will be robust enough to deliver on that promise over a full 14-year ownership cycle. For a company that built its reputation on low-cost, hassle-free ownership, that is the real test.