Amazon to deploy 3,000 electric trucks in India
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.
Picture: Amazon
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.
The first batch Tata Motors has supplied to Amazon consists entirely of Ultra E.7 light-duty electric trucks. This model has a GVW rating of 7.5 tonnes, features a 14-foot load deck, and offers a payload capacity of 3.1 tonnes with a container fitted. It has a 240 kW permanent magnet synchronous motor and a 96 kWh LFP battery pack. This configuration gives it a range of up to 130 kilometres.
Amazon has more than 15,000 EVs operating across over 500 cities in India. Commenting on the new initiative of deploying 3,000 electric trucks, Abhinav Singh, Amazon’s vice president of operations for APAC, the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey, said: “We are now setting a bold vision to scale electric trucking, addressing one of the toughest challenges in decarbonising transportation. Our collaboration with Tata Motors marks an important step towards realising this vision.”