American e-commerce giant Amazon has announced plans to deploy 3,000 electric trucks in India. This will be the largest electric-truck deployment from an e-commerce company in the country.
Tata Motors, India’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, will be supplying Amazon with a total of 3,000 electric trucks. The first 20 units were already delivered on Tuesday. H.D. Kumaraswamy, India’s Minister of Heavy Industries and Steel, flagged off this fleet, underscoring the deployment’s significance in accelerating electric truck adoption in the country.
Under the agreement, Amazon’s carrier partners will buy the 3,000 electric trucks from Tata Motors and operate them on its behalf. This asset-light strategy should help the company electrify its transportation fleet without making a major investment, while also limiting its risk exposure.
Amazon says it will deploy the new electric trucks manufactured by Tata Motors in Delhi during this year’s festive season, when e-commerce companies and retailers typically see freight volumes peak. The company is adopting EVs beyond last-mile mobility, with plans to use Tata Motors’ light- and medium-duty electric trucks to transport shipments between its facilities.
In the next phase, Amazon will deploy electric trucks on National Highway 48, which starts in the national capital, Delhi, in the north, and ends in Chennai (Tamil Nadu), in the south. With a length of approximately 2,800 kilometres, this is India’s longest freight corridor, traversing through seven states and connecting six of the country’s largest e-commerce regions. The company is setting up charging infrastructure through a partnership with Yahhvi, a Delhi-based company specialising in EV charging solutions for commercial vehicles, to support the next phase of the rollout.
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