Indian e-commerce major Flipkart to replace 40 percent of its fleet with electric vehicles

Unlike the West, where vehicle ownership per capita is extremely high, these Asian nations are just in the process of pulling their people from poverty, and thus have significantly lower rates of vehicle ownership. This means that a country like India has a considerable advantage to regulate a market that is just at peaking, making sure the vehicles that are manufactured and sold strictly adhere to the regulations. 

Cities in India also bear the brunt of high population density and chaotic traffic situations on their streets, as heterogeneous traffic and a general flouting of traffic rules cause intense bottlenecks – increasing both emissions and time of travel. 

The Indian government has established an Urban Mobility Lab in New Delhi, which is envisioned as a platform to identify, develop and implement sustainable mobility solutions across the country’s capital. 

Within the mobility segment in India, there has been a significant push to adopt electric vehicles, with Ola, a leader in cab-hailing, instituting a change within its ecosystem by introducing greener electric fleets. To make this happen, Ola received an investment of $300 million for its electric vehicle mobility initiative from South Korea’s Hyundai Motors and Kia Motors earlier this year. 

Ola has also been at the forefront of lobbying the Indian government to create regulations that favor electric mobility – including policies that consider innovative techniques like battery swapping (to increase usage of electric vehicles), and infrastructure that allows for quicker charging.