New Delhi: Food delivery platform Zomato said it will join EV100, a global initiative of companies committed to switching their fleets to electric vehicles by 2030.
In a blog post, Deepinder Goyal, cofounder and CEO of the company, said Zomato is already delivering via EVs in cities such as Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai and is committed to a full transition by 2030.
“The current EV fleet is a small fraction of the active fleet of delivery partners, and we understand that getting to 100% adoption of EVs will not be easy, but is essential in the long run,” Goyal said. “At the moment, the adoption rate is very low for us and for the two-wheeler industry in general. We believe key barriers that currently impact adoption include limited battery range, lack of charging infrastructure, higher upfront costs and lack of trust in new technology.”
The IPO-bound company said that they have multiple partners to source EVs .
Walmart-owned Flipkart is also part of EV100. According to the initiative’s website, Flipkart has committed to transitioning its entire fleet to EV by 2030 and install charging for staff at 1,450 last-mile hubs. Other Indian organisations like Wipro, and State Bank of India are also part of the alliance.
In April, Zomato announced that it will fund local environmental projects to offset the carbon footprint of its deliveries and packaging in India. Currently, it fulfils 20% of its total orders on bicycles, which it says have no carbon footprint and are pollution-free. In New Delhi, it does 35% of orders on bicycles.
Goyal said that the company will aid the quicker transition of the industry to EVs by enabling the ecosystem players, battery manufacturers, and the government. “We are already actively working with a few EV players to design pilots and create business models that could facilitate a faster transition towards a viable mobility solution for deliveries,” Goyal said.