Amazon.com Inc.’s India unit agreed to order more electric vehicles (EVs) from Mahindra Electric as part of a plan to boost its local eco-friendly delivery fleet to 10,000 by 2025 and deliver on founder Jeff Bezos’ pledge to eliminate carbon emissions by 2040.
The e-commerce giant said in a statement that it has already deployed Mahindra’s Treo Zor electric three-wheelers in seven cities, including Bengaluru, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. Amazon is likely to source more such vehicles from other manufacturers in India.
Deploying eco-friendly EVs are among measures being taken by Amazon to mitigate the risks of climate change to its business. Issues such as carbon emissions and labour practices are being scrutinized by investors and staff alike, adding pressure on companies to take corrective steps.
In September 2019, Bezos, the world’s richest man, pledged to make his company carbon-neutral by 2040, meeting the Paris climate agreement’s goals a decade earlier than the 2050 target. India’s Infosys Ltd has joined Amazon.com in promising to cut emissions to zero by 2040.
The deployment of EVs in India is in addition to Amazon’s global commitment of 100,000 such vehicles by 2030. Walmart Inc.-controlled Flipkart also pledged last year to turn its entire delivery fleet in India to electric by 2030.
“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 firms to achieve our environmental sustainability goals,” said Nitin Gadkari, Union minister of road transport and highways.
Amazon India said the government’s push for adopting EVs with awareness campaigns such as ‘Go Electric’ and steps towards setting up charging infrastructure with the FAME 2 policy has helped the company accelerate and chart its vision for EVs in India.
“The expansion of our EV fleet to 10,000 vehicles by 2025 is an integral milestone in our journey to become a sustainability leader in the industry. We continue to work with several OEMs to build a fleet of ‘Made in India’ EVs that ensure sustainable and safe deliveries of customer orders,” said Akhil Saxena, vice-president of customer fulfilment operations for Asia-Pacific, Middle East, North Africa and Latin America at Amazon.
“We are proud to partner with Amazon in deploying Mahindra Treo Zor EV in their delivery partners’ fleet. 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,” said Mahesh Babu, managing director and chief executive, Mahindra Electric Mobility Ltd.
Earlier this month, Amazon said it will start making its Fire TV Stick devices in India. It said it will partner with contract manufacturer Cloud Network Technology, a unit of Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group. Production will start later this year at a Chennai plant.
