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E-commerce giant Amazon India on Tuesday announced its partnership with Mahindra Electric to further strengthen its commitment towards electric mobility in the country. The company said it would deploy 10,000 of Mahindra's electric three-wheeler Treo Zor in the country by 2025. So far, around a hundred of them have already been pressed into service in seven cities in the country like New Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
These 10,000 vehicles are over and above Amazon's global commitment of 100,000 electric vehicles in the delivery fleet by 2030 that was announced in the Climate Pledge in 2019. The firm said its partnership with Mahindra Electric is an important step towards India's progress in the e-mobility industry to achieve its environmental sustainability goals.
"We are committed to building a supply chain that will minimise the environmental impact of our operations. The expansion of our Electric Vehicle fleet to 10,000 vehicles by 2025 is an integral milestone in our journey to become a sustainability leader in the industry," said Akhil Saxena, VP, Customer Fulfilment Operations, APAC, MENA & LATAM, Amazon. "We continue to work with several OEMs to build a fleet of 'Made in India' electric vehicles that ensure sustainable and safe deliveries of customer orders, and this partnership with Mahindra Electric is a testament of our commitment."
Significant progress in the Indian e-mobility industry in the last few years has led to advanced technology, and superior motor and battery components. In addition, the government's focus to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles in the country with awareness campaigns such as 'Go Electric', and steps towards setting up of charging infrastructure with the FAME 2 policy has helped the company accelerate and chart its vision for EVs in India.
"Clean mobility powered by clean energy is an important element in the action to prevent climate change. The partnership between Amazon India and Mahindra Electric is a welcome step which reaffirms India's significant progress in the e-mobility industry and highlights the role of automakers and e-commerce companies to achieve our environmental sustainability goals," said Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Government of India. "We are confident that the government's efforts to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles in the country, and steps taken towards setting up of infrastructure backed by policy measures will help more companies adopt e-mobility. India's dynamic public-and private-sector leadership, entrepreneurial culture, ability to build world-class infrastructure, and a unique confluence of IT and manufacturing skills will enable us to take global leadership position in advanced mobility solutions."
As the first signatory of the Climate Pledge in September 2019, Amazon has committed to become net zero carbon by 2040 across its businesses. To achieve that 10,000 Amazon custom electric delivery vehicles will be on the road delivering to customers worldwide as early as 2022 and all 100,000 by 2030.
It also comes as a shot in the arm for Mahindra Electric, a pioneer in the EV space in the country but which has lost the momentum to Tata Motors in recent times. The Treo Zor was launched in October 2020 and comes with a Lithium-ion Battery and ease of charging, making it easy for delivery partners to charge the vehicles in various locations. It has been designed and developed in India and offers best-in-industry performance. Additionally, it features drive-by-wire technology for a fatigue-free driving experience, reduced loading and unloading time, and offers longest-in-industry wheelbase making the overall extremely safe and stable.
"We believe, this will redefine India's logistics and last-mile delivery needs and at the same time help Mahindra and Amazon to achieve our sustainability goals. Treo Zor offers a unique customer value proposition with best-in-industry power of 8 kW, and highest-in-class payload of 550 kg," said Mahesh Babu, MD & CEO, Mahindra Electric Mobility Ltd. "We are happy that this made-in-India electric cargo will contribute towards Amazon's delivery partner fleet transformation towards EVs in the country. The success of our Treo range of three-wheelers has proved that electric vehicles in the last mile segment is a win-win solution for our customers as well as the larger society."
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