Last-Mile Delivery Needs May Be A $20 Billion Market, Says Exponent Energy CEO

The energy requirements of last-mile delivery vehicles, which are rapidly turning electric, may be a $20 billion market, according to Arun Vinayak of Exponent Energy.

“Energy for commercial vehicles is a $150 billion market in India. And 30% of that will shift to electric quickly, especially last mile, which itself is a $20 billion market,” Vinayak, co-founder and chief executive officer of the Bengaluru-based charging infrastructure company, told BQ Prime.

Commercial vehicles account for 10% of total vehicles but require 70% of the energy consumed by vehicles plying on roads, Vinayak said.

Last-mile delivery, a growing segment within commercial vehicles, includes transport of goods from a warehouse or a fulfillment centre to the customer. Vinayak, former chief product officer at electric scooter maker Ather Energy Pvt., expects this to become fully electric in the next five to six years.

Backed by Hero MotoCorp Ltd.’s Pawan Munjal, the Motherson Group, and investment funds—including Lightspeed Venture Partners, YourNest Venture Capital and 3one4 Capital—Exponent Energy claims to have developed a technology that can fully charge a vehicle in just 15 minutes.