India’s EV growth story has largely been written by passenger two-wheelers, the next chapter though can be written by medium and heavy freight
By Atul Mudaliar, Director of Systems Change, Climate Group India
India’s transport electrification journey is a story of remarkable momentum in recent years. Electric two- and three-wheelers are increasingly becoming mainstream, electric buses have entered city fleets, and the government’s support for it has steadily expanded. However, one segment is still at the starting line: medium- and heavy-duty trucks (MHDTs), or Zero Emission Trucks (ZETs).
This matters because India’s freight sits at the heart of its economic ambitions. Trucks account for barely 2% of the country’s vehicle fleet and yet they consume nearly 35% of road transport fuel and generate almost 45% of on-road transport emissions. Importantly, they connect ports to factories, industrial clusters to markets, and manufacturers to consumers. Every product begins its journey in a factory and reaches a customer, and therefore, freight efficiency is increasingly an economic competitiveness issue.
As India pursues the twin goals of becoming a global manufacturing hub and achieving net zero emissions, decarbonising freight will become an economic imperative as much as it is an environmental one.
Lesson one: The question is not ‘if’ but ‘how’
What is encouraging is that the decision-making is evolving rapidly – it is no longer about whether electric trucks are technically feasible. Indian auto Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) have introduced ZET platforms, shippers and their logistics service providers are deploying pilot fleets, and businesses are increasingly recognising clean freight as part of their decarbonisation journey. Therefore, the test today is about creating the conditions for their scaled adoption, not to prove that ZETs work.
The government’s financial incentive programme, PM E-DRIVE, is providing an important early market signal. While creating demand through purchase incentives is important, the government’s pitch to tighten fuel efficiency norms for OEMs producing internal combustion engine (ICE) MHDTs is a key directional shift for a supply-side push for electric trucks.
Lesson two: The real challenge is not the truck but the ecosystem
One lesson that has consistently emerged is that freight electrification is not simply about replacing a diesel truck with an electric one. It will require an ecosystem where vehicles, charging infrastructure, finance, regulation and freight demand evolve together.
India’s trucking market is unlike those of many advanced economies. Nearly 70% of truck buyers own fewer than six vehicles, making the sector highly fragmented. So, while typically larger fleet operators with predictable routes and stronger access to finance are likely to lead early adoption, the transition will only succeed at scale when commercially viable solutions are within the reach of thousands of small and big operators who form the backbone of India’s logistics.
Lesson three: The markets will scale corridor-by-corridor
Our learning says that freight electrification will not happen uniformly across every application or geography. Early success will come at routes that are predictable, where freight demand is concentrated, utilisation is high, and charging can be planned. In other words, India’s ZET transition will scale faster corridor-by-corridor, and not one truck at a time.
This shift in thinking is key. The goal must not simply be to deploy more vehicles, but to create commercially successful freight ecosystems where fleets, charging infrastructure, cargo demand and financing reinforce each other. Once those ecosystems prove viable, market confidence will follow.
Lesson four: The next frontier is making ZETs bankable
The biggest barrier is commercial risk. The purchase costs of electric trucks can be two to three times more expensive compared to their diesel counterparts. While incentives solve for early market adoption, long-term growth will depend on making ZET investments bankable.
Besides improving the truck’s utilisation for making an investment viable, it’s important to reduce the perceived risk through the right revenue-risk sharing models to lower financing costs and unlock private capital.
States, too, have an important role to play by enabling charging infrastructure along strategic freight corridors, integrating freight electrification into industrial and logistics planning, streamlining approvals and creating targeted fiscal and non-fiscal incentives suited to regional freight ecosystems.
Lesson five: Business leadership can enable markets
Governments alone cannot boost this transition; corporate leadership is already helping shape the market. Through Climate Group’s EV100, leading companies are signalling demand for zero-emission logistics while encouraging manufacturers, logistics providers and infrastructure developers to invest with greater confidence.
The experience of JSW Cement illustrates this well. The company deployed ZETs on a corridor linking its cement and steel operations, carrying clinker on the onward journey and steel slag on the return. By combining assured two-way freight movement with dedicated charging infrastructure, the project demonstrated that when asset utilisation, infrastructure and demand are planned together, the business case for ZETs becomes significantly stronger.
Other EV100 companies, including IKEA and Flipkart, have demonstrated leadership, helping move the market from isolated pilots towards scalable commercial adoption.
From vehicles to systems to accelerate electric freight
New markets can emerge when public policy aligns with private-sector innovation. Renewable energy, LED lighting and digital payments all demonstrate what synchronised action can achieve. Global experience suggests that long-term transformation is seldom achieved through incentives alone, but regulatory measures can provide OEMs and financiers greater certainty to invest and innovate.
The opportunity for us is not merely to reduce import fuel dependence by switching to electricity, but to build a logistics system that is cleaner, more efficient, globally competitive, and resilient. If we can get this transition right, it will improve the air for our citizens, enhance manufacturing and labour force competitiveness, and position the auto industry at the forefront of an important industrial transformation.
Only the strength of the trucking ecosystem as a whole can bring about an electric mobility revolution in freight – it won’t be a success if we think of trucks in isolation.