Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace announced its commitment to transition to electric vehicles (EVs) by joining the Climate Group’s global electric mobility initiative, EV100.
EV100 brings together forward-looking companies committed to accelerating the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) and making electric transport the new normal by 2030.
As a part of this commitment and to support wider adoption of EVs, Flipkart is committing to a phased integration of electric vehicles into its entire fleet (directly owned or leased corporate fleets) by 2030.
This will be done through placing requirements in service contracts, installing charging infrastructure close to its 1,400 supply chain premises, conducting awareness programs and incentivizing delivery executives towards the use of electric vehicles.
Evangelising EVs across the breadth of its ecosystem of employees, delivery partners and workers, Flipkart will spearhead the sector’s sustainability transformation, and support India’s ambition of ensuring 30% electric mobility by 2030. Kalyan
Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart Group, said, “As a homegrown company, we always pride ourselves in making e-commerce more inclusive, progressive and impactful for all our stakeholders, which also includes communities and the planet. We have been applying this ethos to the indigenous market to serve our consumer’s needs responsibly and consciously.”
He added “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. With our scale & scope and intense focus on Sustainability agenda , we believe we can play a significant role in not just fast tracking the adoption of electric vehicles but also making clean mobility mainstream.”
The company in a statement said it has a strong vision towards sustainability and has proactively and successfully adopted several sustainable practices across its business operations. Electrification of its entire logistics fleet is a key part of Flipkart’s larger sustainability goal and the EV100 commitment is in line with that.
Over the past year, Flipkart has worked 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. These include designing and the manufacturing of EVs optimized for e-commerce while supporting market demand for EVs to emerge as a mainstream mobility solution.
Divya Sharma, India Executive Director, Climate Group, said, “The Climate Group is thrilled to see Flipkart signing up to EV100 and step up to lead the adoption of electric vehicles in the e-commerce sector in India. Flipkart will play a significant role in fostering innovation in technology and exchanging knowledge on e-mobility within our global network of committed businesses. To help make swift emissions cuts and improve air quality for the long-term, we urge more Indian companies to follow suit, sending a powerful signal of support to policymakers wishing to see a faster roll-out of EVs.”
As the first e-commerce player in India to join the globally recognized EV100 initiative, Flipkart is uniquely placed to further EV100’s goal of catalyzing corporate leadership for Electric Vehicles uptake in India. This will also be an opportunity to learn from over 70 forward-looking companies from across the globe, committed to accelerating the transition to electric vehicles (EVs), said the home grown e-commerce firm.