Sourabh Saini, a delivery driver for India's online supermarket BigBasket, was delighted with the attention he received as he passed through Noida, a satellite town on the outskirts of Delhi, in his three-wheel electric van. “I love how my electric truck always stands out,” said Saini, who gave up fossil fuels about eight months ago as part of BigBasket's campaign to electrify 90% of its fleet. “Customers are amazed at how quiet he is. They were curious about my electric driving experience and started questioning its price and range.
This makes him something of a novelty in India, where BigBasket and online giants Amazon.com Inc. and Flipkart - which could hold the key to removing more gasoline consumers from India's roads - are struggling to get enough vehicles to meet their targeted ambitions to electrify their delivery fleets.“It does not plug and play,” said Mahesh Pratap Singh, director of sustainability and accountability at Flipkart. “When we look at the context, there isn't much from a supply and reliability standpoint, or a viable business option. We believe you need to set some big, bold ambitions and really drive the entire ecosystem and shape it, rather than just one consumer.
The nature of online deliveries - quick trips from a central hub where a standard charging solution can be installed - is well suited for electric vehicle adoption, overcoming range anxiety and lack of charging infrastructure which has proven to be a barrier to general adoption. Electric vehicles account for less than 1% of annual vehicle sales in India, compared with about 6% in China.
But India's delivery giants realize that not many models can be deployed on a large scale and supply is not keeping up with demand. Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., the country's largest automaker, does not manufacture electric cars, although the cost of an electric vehicle puts them in excess of most buyers.
India's largest two-wheeler, Hero MotoCorp Ltd., won't have its first electric vehicle on the market until around March 2022. Tata Motors Ltd., the leader in electric passenger cars With the best-selling Nexon, there are no small commercial electric vehicles commonly used for last-mile deliveries. Girish Wagh, president of the automaker's utility vehicle division, said Tata had started developing small electric vehicles because of the industry's "strong" potential.