E-Commerce Sector to Boost Fleet Electrification in India: Report

Chennai: India’s e-commerce market is currently deploying one million EVs as part of its fleet spread across two and three-wheeler, small and medium utility vehicle segments. This includes last-mile delivery vehicles with daily usage of 100-150 km, long-distance transport (from factories to warehouses or regional distribution centers) with daily usage of 150-250 km, according to a latest report from the World Business Council for Sustainable. Development (WBCSD).
While the e-commerce segment is expected to grow fourfold from $84 billion in 2021 to $350 billion by 2030, the sector will roll out over 160,000 new vehicles during this period. “100% adoption of electric vehicles for e-commerce deliveries in India by 2030 could prevent 44% of total CO2 emissions caused by equivalent ICE vehicle variants, reduce fossil fuel consumption by 32 billion liters per year and prevent approximately 76 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year,” the report states. India is already the leading market with the largest EV100 corporate fleet commitment with 194,388 vehicles compared to 176,154 units in the UK and 71,264 units in France.
A number of e-commerce companies have already committed to electric vehicle fleets. These include Flipkart, Myntra, IKEA and Zomato which have committed to 100% transition to electric vehicles by 2030 and Amazon which has committed to inducting 10,000 electric vehicles by 2030. Flipkart, which began its EV journey in 2017, has already deployed 2,000 EVs in 18 states and union territories and will introduce 25,000 EVs by 2030.
Driving EV in e-commerce is driven by cost considerations. “Some e-commerce companies are already recognizing electric vehicles as a cost improvement measure, in addition to improving customer satisfaction and meeting regulatory compliance,” said Thomas Deloison, director of mobility at WBCSD. “E-commerce delivery is growing rapidly in India, and we need to ensure that this progress is sustainable,” added Hemant Badri, Senior Vice President and Head of Supply Chain, Flipkart Group.
For manufacturers of electric vehicles, the e-commerce association is a means of producing vehicles that meet the needs of the sector. “We are in contact with Flipkart, Amazon among others and we are putting the R&D and sales and service teams to work with B2B companies so that the base vehicle can adapt to the range and other requirements of the market segment. e-commerce,” said Hero Electric. CEO Sohinder Gill. Flipkart has established partnerships with OEMs such as Mahindra, Hero Electric, Piaggio, and Euler Motors. “We already have a three-wheeled product for the e-commerce segment and soon we will have a four-wheeled product as well,” added Mahindra Logistics MD & CEO Rampraveen Swaminathan. For the electric vehicle fleet to accelerate, he added, “low-cost financing is essential and banks and non-banking financial firms will need to build their confidence and capacity to finance the electric vehicle sector.” .