India's leading truck makers are partnering with Amazon, Bisleri, Blinkit and Amul, among others, for developing small electric commercial vehicles (e-SCVs) to cater to thriving demand for quick commerce and other doorstep deliveries, said company executives.

Manufacturers such as Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and Eicher Motors, and even startups such as EKA Mobility and Omega Seiki, are gearing up to introduce nearly a dozen e-SCVs over the next few months to meet burgeoning logistics needs of ecommerce, cold chains for fruits, vegetables, medicines, and FMCG companies. Others like Bisleri and Amul are, for the first time, inducting customised electric vehicles to their in-house fleets for fast tracking delivery of volumetric daily essentials like bottled water/dairy to customers.

Such vehicles, which run at a third of cost of comparative small diesel vehicles, are not only expected to usher the next phase of growth in the SCV segment but also help meet sustainability goals of multinationals who have firmed up targets to have zero emission fleets by 2030.

Girish Wagh, executive director at Tata Motors, the country's largest commercial vehicle maker, said demand for the electric version of its best-selling SCV Tata ACE has grown by 40% in the first nine months of this fiscal year.

"We added 10 corporate customers last quarter. We have now 70 of them and we are helping them on their decarbonisation journey," he said, adding the company is also working with government and retail customers for providing last-mile delivery solutions.

While Tata Motors has readied for launch of two more variants of the ACE to tap into the demand potential, Eicher Motors recently announced its foray into this category with the Pro X range of electric SCVs.

Vinod Aggarwal, managing director, VECV, said with the Pro X range, which has been "co-created" with drivers and logistics players, the company is looking at scaling up sales of EVs for last-mile deliveries to ecommerce, cold chain, parcel/courier and FMCG segments. "Last-mile delivery vehicles are most relevant today for the transition to EVs. Distances covered by these vehicles are not long. Yet usage is high, which results in substantial savings for the operators," Aggarwal said.

Eicher has a partnership with Amazon to introduce up to 1,000 zero-emission electric trucks across payload categories into the e-commerce giant's delivery operations over the next five years, deployed through Amazon's transport service partners. Eicher also has an agreement with ITC for supplying 100 EVs for mid-mile transportation.

Electric SCVs are up to 50% pricier over corresponding diesel vehicles. However, given the lower operating costs-1: 3.5/4 for electric vs diesel-the benefits outweigh the cost if they run 80-90 km per day, as per industry estimates.