Amazon partners with Indian EV firms for its last-mile delivery fleet

The e-commerce firm will engage with more Indian OEMs to achieve its goal of 10,000 EVs by 2025

Amazon India reaffirmed its commitment towards the electrification of its last-mile delivery fleet to reduce its dependence on non-renewable resources. Amazon India is working with Mahindra Electric to add more electric vehicles (EV) to its delivery fleet. Now, the company said Hero Electric, as well as start-ups such as EVage, are engaging with Amazon India to expand the company’s fleet of EVs. The aim is to enable sustainable deliveries of customer orders. Amazon India’s Delivery Service Partners are already operating EVs of multiple formats in over 20 cities in India. These include Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Bhopal, Indore and Coimbatore.

“As we enter the 75th year of Indian independence we need to focus on our collective efforts towards a green and sustainable India,” said Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of MSME, Road Transport and Highways, at Amazon’s flagship event Smbhav. “I want to congratulate Amazon for being the first company to sign the Climate Pledge by committing to net zero carbon across the business, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement. This is a remarkable and historical contribution.”

He said the collaboration between Amazon and Indian OEMs like Mahindra Electric, Hero Electric and EVage is a welcome step, which reaffirms India’s significant progress in the e-mobile industry.

The collaborative effort strengthens Amazon India’s commitment to include 10,000 EVs as part of its delivery fleet by 2025.  These EVs are in addition to the company’s global commitment of 100,000 electric vehicles in its delivery fleet by 2030 announced in the Climate Pledge signed by Amazon. Amazon India’s Delivery Service Partner fleet of EVs now includes two-wheeler, three-wheeler and four-wheeler vehicles. These are designed and made in India and will be deployed across the company’s delivery partner network.

“We, at Amazon India, remain steadfast in our endeavour to build a supply chain that fosters energy efficiency and is environmentally responsible,” said Prakash Kumar Dutta, vice president, fulfilment centre and supply chain operations, Amazon India. “These electric vehicles will play a central role in achieving our environmental sustainability goals and will also play an important role towards building an Atmanirbhar Bharat.”

Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge in 2019, a commitment to reach the Paris Agreement 10 years early and be net-zero carbon by 2040. The pledge now has 53 signatories, including Infosys, IBM, Unilever, Verizon, Siemens, and Microsoft. To reach its goal, Amazon will continue to reduce emissions across its operations by taking real business actions and establishing a path to power its operations with 100 per cent renewable energy, five years ahead of the company’s original target of 2030. It would deliver its Shipment Zero vision to make all shipments net-zero carbon, with 50 per cent net-zero carbon by 2030. It is purchasing 100,000 electric delivery vehicles, the largest order ever of electric delivery vehicles. The firm is investing $2 billion in the development of decarbonizing services and solutions through the Climate Pledge Fund.