These days, major e-commerce companies of the country are rapidly making changes in their delivery vehicles. Companies are rapidly moving towards electric vehicles (EVs) to deliver goods to the people. The reason for this is not only to save the environment, but also due to increasing expenses and problems related to supply. Due to increasing tension in the Middle East, problems of petrol and diesel were also seen, due to which companies are now turning more towards EV vehicles.
According to the ET report, officials of Bigbasket, Zippee and Dealshare say that companies like Flipkart, Delhivery and Porter were already adopting EVs, but now due to global tensions, fluctuations in petrol and diesel prices have accelerated this change. Now it has become difficult to accurately estimate the price of fuel. In such a situation, companies want to adopt EV quickly, so that the risk of delivery people can be reduced.
Bigbasket Chief Operating Officer T.K. Balkumar said that the energy crisis is new, but fluctuating fuel prices are also accelerating EV adoption. He told that this change of the company has happened 69 months ago, because the delivery partners are now moving towards EV to increase their earnings and reduce expenses. Currently, about 48% of the company’s delivery vehicles are EVs, which can reach 70% in the next 1224 months.
Cost savings and environmental benefits
The cost of running an EV reduces, which increases the income of delivery people. Besides, it also reduces pollution, which is good for the environment. Zippee CEO Madhav Kasturia said that rising fuel prices are a warning shot for the company and every rupee saved on energy directly adds to profits. Currently, about 25% of the vehicles in Zippee’s delivery fleet are electric and the company wants to increase this further, especially in areas with fast delivery.
According to Kamaldeep Singh, CEO of Dealshare, the use of EV has increased rapidly in his company too, because the cost per kilometer reduces significantly. He told that last year the share of EV was only 35%, now it has increased to 2025%. Its usage is high in cities like Kolkata and Jaipur and it can reach 5560% in the next 1824 months.
What are the challenges?
EVs are cheaper to run and maintain, but there are still some problems. Arrangement of money to buy a car, lack of charging station and lack of complete preparation of the entire system are major obstacles. Flipkart’s survey revealed that 46% delivery partners want to adopt EV, but these problems are coming in their way. Flipkart’s Sustainability Head Nishant Gupta said that the company is working closely with partners to increase charging stations and provide finance facilities. The company aims to switch completely to electric vehicles by 2030.
How are companies preparing?
Companies are now expanding the charging network and providing facilities like easy loans and lease, so that drivers can easily buy EVs. Porter has more than 30,000 EVs on its platform and this number is likely to double in the coming two years. Delhivery has also included about 1,000 electric vehicles in its fleet and plans to increase it further in the coming time. A pilot project also revealed that EV adoption reduced CO₂ emissions by about 300 kg per day and the delivery cost reduced by more than 50%.
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