Maharashtra to offer sops to Amazon, Uber, others for stepping up EV drive

Maharashtra will offer companies like Amazon.com Inc and Uber new incentives to electrify their delivery fleets ahead of a 2025 target for cleaner air, its environment minister has said.

Seen as one of the country’s richest states and home to the financial hub of Mumbai, the state is an important market for e-commerce, ride-hailing and food delivery companies. Last year, it set a target for such companies to electrify 25% of their fleet by 2025.

Now it wants to bring the target forward by offering companies higher incentives for bulk purchase of electric vehicles (EVs), the state minister, Aaditya Thackeray, said. “We are trying to be on the earlier side of 2025 and see if companies can get certain more incentives and move sooner. This not only benefits us in terms of cleaner air but also benefits them in terms of economies and their revenue models,” he said.

Companies the state is likely to approach in the next month include Amazon, Uber, Flipkart, Ola and Zomato and Swiggy. The push comes weeks after New Delhi issued strict draft rules for companies to get a licence on condition that a certain percentage of their new fleet is electric. The Maharashtra government has yet make its offer to the companies and Amazon, Flipkart, Uber, Ola, Zomato and Swiggy did not immediately respond to questions about the possibility of speeding up the electrification process. Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato and Swiggy have previously set out EV targets for 2025 and 2030, and Uber is working with EV firms to introduce electrification in its fleet. But the proposal to bring forward the target could worry some industry executives who fear a significant shift towards electric vehicles could come with costs due to a lack of affordable, long-range vehicles and insufficient charging infrastructure.