City Link launches electric cargo vehicles in Bengaluru
City Link Portal Pvt Ltd, (City Link) a leading tech-enabled within city logistics start-up, has taken delivery of its first set of electric cargo vehicles (EV) from Mahindra and Mahindra.
City Link understands that it is the first company in Bengaluru to receive the 'Mahindra Treo-Zor' vehicles which will help it position itself aggressively in the rapidly expanding' last-mile delivery space, under its 'Think Green. Think EV' initiative.
"The EV foray is our firm resolve to grow responsibly and continue to bring value to all our customers, vendor partners and drivers," said R Jayakumar (JK), the founder and investor of City Link.
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"Though we are a start-up; we do not believe in any kind of wasteful BURN, CASH OR FUEL. Our objective is wealth and value creation with equal emphasis on environment protection, and we are committed to passing on a cleaner legacy to gen-next," he added.
City Link planned its 'Think Green. Think EV' initiative late last year and has been working with the EV Ecosystem ever since. While the onset of COVID-19 slowed down the progress, it provided just the right opportunity for City Link to learn from vehicle manufacturers, owners, battery manufacturers and potential customers alike.
"City Link is convinced that besides being environment friendly, EVs are expected to drive ROI and bring down delivery costs when compared to existing alternatives. We are looking to add 100-120 EVs in a year's time towards our Last Mile Push," said Puneet Prakash, the co-founder and CEO.
City Link, has been serving a broad customer base from large Enterprises to SMEs to individuals for their trucking requirements, through a mix of its planned demand and on-demand offerings.
Using its Trucking Tech suite QuikMove, it is able to match demand/supply pockets, enhance asset utilization and delivery efficiency, provide real-time visibility, optimize route/load carrying and above all, make an erstwhile manual system completely automated and intelligent.
Having commenced with small EVs, City Link shall continue to align with all the EV stakeholders including the govt. to expand its EV service offerings with larger vehicles in the mid-mile and first mile segments.
City Link believes that the EV shift in the commercial vehicle space shall be led by smaller vehicles with up to 500 - 550 kg payload capacity.
The larger vehicles shall witness a slow transition in about two-three years, given the constraints with regards to related infrastructure and battery cost.
However, a rapidly evolving ecosystem coupled with a comprehensive govt policy focus may bring in this paradigm shift, sooner than later.
