As a significant breakthrough in decarbonizing the freight sector in India, INTENT has stepped forward with the announcement of SCALE Coalition—a pioneering effort to ensure widespread scaling of heavy-duty electric trucks in India.
The coalition is designed to consolidate demand across some of the largest corporate emitters and logistics firms in India and allow industrywide conversion of diesel-powered fleets to electric trucks. Synergizing demand and driving collaboration can enable SCALE to unleash the economies of scale and cut costs to support a faster transition to zero-emission logistics in India.
Supported by a design approach built on India’s national success in electric bus service, the SCALE aims at the implementation of 500 electric trucks in the next three years, with an initial program of 50. In the implementation, the initiative will be done in cooperation with logistic service providers, truck manufacturers, charge point operators, financiers, and think tanks to solidify the entire ecosystem.
Highlighting the importance of the initiative, Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, said, “Heavy-duty freight is critical to our economy, but it is also a major contributor to emissions. By uniting industry leaders around the adoption of electric trucks, SCALE will help companies transition to cleaner, more efficient mobility while supporting India’s vision for sustainable transport.”
Mahua Acharya, the CEO of INTENT thanked the partners and stakeholders of the industry and indicated that the way SCALE is approaching its goals is similar to the approach that India successfully went through with its electric buses. She highlighted that it is the coalition that will be instrumental in encouraging the level of collaboration between government, corporates and innovators to make freight greener and more cost-effective.
According to current industry statistics
Trucking contributes 40 percent of transport-related emissions in India and uses almost 64 percent of the national diesel, with a proportionate contribution to the GDP of 16 percent. As a result of high economic development rates, the emission is expected to increase in the next 25 years, so the process of replacing the trucks with electric equipment is a critical chance to reduce the amount of carbon emissions, cut the cost of fuel consumption, and enhance competitiveness in the area of logistics.
By facilitating massive implementation of clean transport options, SCALE will help India to become a global climatic frontrunner in the field of freight mobility and benefit the greater climate and energy transition agenda in India.
