Only EVs to deliver Flipkart orders by 2030; pilot-run starts

E-commerce giant Flipkart has joined global firms in their sustainability pledge by deciding to completely switch to electric vehicle (EV) across its supply chain by 2030. Over the next 10 years, Flipkart will integrate electric vehicles in phased manner in its entire fleet (directly owned or leased corporate fleets) including the last mile delivery. Flipkart plans to achieve this via including it in service contracts, installing charging infrastructure close to its 1,400 supply chain hubs and incentivising delivery executives towards the use of electric vehicles. Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group, said, "Our commitment to the Climate Group's EV100 initiative ties in with this larger vision of environmental sustainability and allows us to learn from the most forward-thinking global perspectives as part of the EV100 ecosystem."

As part of its pilot program, Flipkart already deploys electric vehicles in cities such as Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Bhubaneshwar. The company will soon start deploying EVs in cities such as Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Lucknow. The company also said that over the past year,  it has been working towards creating a wide network of ecosystem partners across charging providers, regulators, policy makers, skill development agencies, aggregators and OEMs to work on various areas to enable adoption of electric mobility.  

Flipkart also collaborated and worked on the designing and the manufacturing of EVs, which are optimised for e-commerce delivery. In August last year the company had said to have reduced its single-use plastic by 25 per cent through various initiatives across its packaging value chain. Flipkart also had commitment to eliminate single-use plastic in packaging and move towards 100 per cent recycled plastic consumption in its own supply chain by March 2021.

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