Nitin Gadkari flags off fleet of EVs at Amazon Smbhav Summit 2021

On day four of the Amazon Smbhav Summit 2021, Amazon India reaffirmed its commitment towards the electrification of its last-mile delivery fleet to reduce its dependence on non-renewable resources. Union Minister of MSME, Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari; leaders from Amazon India, and CEOs of leading OEMs were present at the virtual event. 

In February 2021, Amazon India announced that it is working with Mahindra Electric to deploy close to a hundred Mahindra Treo Zor EVs in seven major cities. Today, Hero Electric as well as startups such as EVage are engaging with Amazon India to expand the company’s fleet of EVs 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, including Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Bhopal, Indore, and Coimbatore to name a few. Its fleet of EVs now includes two-wheeler, three-wheeler, and four-wheeler vehicles, which are designed and Made in India, and will be deployed across the company’s delivery partner network. 

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 1,00,000 electric vehicles in its delivery fleet by 2030 announced in the Climate Pledge signed by Amazon. 

Virtually flagging off a fleet of EVs at Smbhav 2021, Gadkari said,

“As we enter the 75th year of Indian independence, we need to focus on our collective efforts towards a green and sustainable India. 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. I am really happy to know that Amazon India has pledged to adopt 10,000 EVs in their delivery fleet by 2025.”

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, he added.

The Indian e-mobility industry has made significant progress over the last few years, with the Indian government’s focus to encourage the adoption of EVs. The inclusion of EVs in Amazon India’s fleet further powers India’s electric mobility progress and complements its focus on ‘Make in India’ EVs.

“We, at Amazon India, remain steadfast in our endeavour to building a supply chain that fosters energy efficiency and is environmentally responsible. 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,” said Prakash Kumar Dutta, Vice President, Fulfilment Centre & Supply Chain Operations, Amazon India.

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 said it will continue to reduce emissions across its operations by taking real business actions and establishing a path to power its operations with 100 percent renewable energy, five years ahead of the company’s original target of 2030; delivering its Shipment Zero vision to make all shipments net-zero carbon, with 50 percent net-zero carbon by 2030; purchasing 100,000 electric delivery vehicles, the largest order ever of electric delivery vehicles, and by investing $2 billion in the development of decarbonizing services and solutions through the Climate Pledge Fund.