India’s Green Revolution: Electric Truck Market on Track to Double in FY25

New Delhi: While the pace may not be scorching, Small Commercial Vehicles (SCVs) are leading the charge for electrification in the Indian trucking industry. According to electric CV maker Switch Mobility’s market projection, the electric truck segment in India will range between 4,000 and 6,000 units by the end of March 2025. If the market touches the more optimistic end of the projected volume bracket, it would translate to a doubling of the emerging segment, which is estimated to have sold close to 3,000 units during the last financial year.

The demand is expected to be driven by last-mile and mid-mile transportation needs. The Indian last-mile delivery segment, for example, is projected to be a $6 billion market this year and is expected to reach $167 billion by 2027. Switch Mobility’s CEO Mahesh Babu and his team are currently focused on the last-mile and mid-mile segments. This demand trend is reflected in an order for 500 Switch IeV4s by Magenta Mobility, a logistics provider with a fleet size of around 2,000 EVs. Switch Mobility plans to service the order within a year.

Of the nearly 2,000 EVs that Magenta Mobility has, 1,900 are three-wheelers. However, the ratio is set to change in the new round of fleet expansion. “We are going to buy an additional 3,000 (units), of which 1,200 vehicles are going to be four-wheelers,” said Maxson Lewis, Founder-CEO of Magenta Mobility. Magenta Mobility plans to expand its fleet to 5,000 EVs by March 2025, for which it could spend around INR 240 crore.

As Magenta Mobility expands its presence from 18 cities, Lewis says, the fleet expansion rate will be higher in the first half of the next financial year, during which the 6-year-old startup (logistics business started in 2021) plans to add another 5,000 EVs. With the demand for tailpipe emission-free vehicles from its clients growing, Magenta Mobility expects to turn EBITDA positive in “a quarter and a half” from now. “We’re already profitable in a couple of cities,” says Lewis.

For Switch Mobility, Magenta Mobility is “one of the first” bulk buyers of its IeV4, the first batches of which arrived in dealerships last month. The IeV4, an electrified version of the Bada Dost from Switch Mobility’s parent Ashok Leyland, has a claimed driving range of 125 km on a single charge. It will be followed by a smaller variant, IeV3, in a “couple of months”.

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“Almost 20% of the LCV market share is with Ashok Leyland. Both the products Dost and Bada Dost are doing well. I believe with electrification there are some more segments which will be doing well, so we will start exploring that,” says Babu. Switch Mobility plans to start executing its export strategy this month, by exporting the first set of vehicles for trials.

While the truck electrification trend will continue and cover the M&HCV segment too, the action in the short term will remain in the light truck segments. Daimler Truck, the world’s largest truck maker, plans to enter the electric truck space with its eCanter, scheduled for launch in the next 6 to 12 months by Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV). Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles (VECV), which currently has a sole EV in a 5.5 tonner, plans to enter the 2.0 to 3.5 tonne e-SCV space, with deliveries planned for ‘early 2025’.

Refral By:- https://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com/