Electric vehicles are indeed a need of the hour in order to reduce and control pollution. At the same time, they are turning out to be a cost-saving avenue for businesses which are also involved in last-mile logistics. As a part of this pilot, Grofers had deployed about 150 electric vehicles in cities like Delhi and Jaipur.
With this, the firm observed that its last-mile logistics cost reduced by a whopping 50%. Buoyed by the contribution of EVs, the SoftBank-backed company is deploying 500 vehicles for last-mile deliveries. The inclusion of EVs makes sense for Grofers as it does delivery via three wheels.
Unlike others who deliver on bikes, Grofers performs delivery via four-wheel tempos. The company has also been jointly working with the government to run pilots on four-wheel EVs that can be used for moving inventory from large warehouses to distribution hubs.
Grofers’ decision on including more EVs has come on the heels of Flipkart committing to turn 40% of its entire delivery fleet into electric by early 2020. It had already included about 20 electric vans in Delhi and Hyderabad along with 30 electric bikes in its fleet.
According to an estimate, the cost of running EVs for delivery is under Rs 1/km, while the same figure is Rs 3.5/km for fossil fuel-driven vehicles.
To weed out petrol and diesel-run vehicles, food delivery major Zomato partnered Mobycy, e-HIRAN, Yulu, TNT, and Zoomcar’s PEDL to provide cycles and EVs for its fleet.
Inclusion of EVs by e-commerce companies strengthen the government’s push for greener transport options. Short term two-wheel rental startups Bounce and Vogo have also been ramping up towards having a larger fleet of electric scooters.
The inclusion of EVs in Flipkart and Grofers’ delivery fleet is indeed an encouraging move. However, the real impact would reflect when logistics companies, cab-bike hailing apps and food delivery giants like Swiggy and Zomato also pledge to turn their fleet with EVs.
The development was reported by Mint.
