Going Electric! Here's How This Surat Based Startup Revolutionises Last-Mile Delivery In A Sustainable Way

The logistics sector has been on an all-time boom but was not structured or streamlined in India. While many players forayed into the last mile logistics, many of them did not focus on making it environmentally conscious or viable.

Post COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a considerable rise in ease of access from end customers, which translated into a habit of taking online deliveries.

Seeing this surge, entrepreneurs Devrishi Arora and Pragya Mittal saw a huge opportunity and a problem statement they could solve. They planned to create a sustainable tech-enabled platform to provide logistics services and opt for a sustainable way of delivery.

Foundation Of EVIFY

Arora and Mittal launched EVIFY, a tech-enabled electric vehicle-based logistics company situated in Surat, Gujarat. The company aims to improve the electric vehicle chain in India with a prime focus on sustainability and aims to make India's D2C/FMCG/E-commerce last-mile deliveries go electric.

Further, EVIFY also provides delivery personnel along with its vehicle. The platform runs on a per delivery or rental basis. The present customers of the platform are Big Basket and Swiggy, and it has achieved over 2,15,000 green km and 42,000 green deliveries by April this year.

Moreover, out of 500 startups, EVIFY has been picked for Climate Tech 100, a listing of 100 Indian climate tech startups, based on research and evaluation by EAI.

Improving EV Sector In India

"EV being the new sector in India, has a lot of startups/ brands who have forayed into this, but they do not have the environment's foresight in vision. This means that assumption of EV being green and our work is done is not true. We have to evaluate how consciously we can keep our operations green yet value-based, ensuring as low energy wastage and emissions as possible," Devrishi Arora, founder of Evify, told The Logical Indian.

Secondly, EVIFY is engaged in R&D, and tech improvements point to the data it regularly collects from its CMS. The data helps them build a robust battery support system and allows them to guide and assist their delivery teams (fleets) in performing efficiently," added co-founder of the company, Pragya Mittal.

These two efforts add immense value to the EV ecosystem as a whole. The EV market in India is expected to reach around USD 15 billion by 2027. Further, the logistics sector in India is valued at USD 160 billion, which has enormous potential to grow in the future with a green logistics business model.

Plans Of The Startup

EVIFY has planned to install smart charging points in all the prime locations of Surat to create a charging infrastructure for its fleet to reduce the range anxiety and increase the fleet's performance.

The platform is inclined towards women's empowerment, trying to onboard women riders to execute delivery services.

"EVIFY already has women in the leadership, right from the company's Co-Founder, Legal Consultant, Communication Consultant, and Media Manager, all are females," Mittal said.

The company has planned to go carbon neutral by the end of 2022 by buying carbon credits equivalent to the emission caused due to grid charging. It has also applied for the carbon-neutral certification from an internationally recognised body.

"As a carbon-conscious company, we strive to mitigate any kind of wastage, emissions etc., as much as possible," Arora said.

Electric Vehicles In India

"Electric vehicles are replacing the traditional mobility solutions such as two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and four-wheelers, at a much greater pace than was expected. Naturally, it needs a lot of support initially," he added.

The entrepreneurs believe that the EV sector requires aid in terms of technology, research and development, use case analyses, better supply and use of raw material, etc.

In the current scenario, various food delivery, grocery delivery, e-commerce, and logistics platforms have started leveraging EVs for their last-mile deliveries. According to its founders, Evify's green initiative will significantly reduce operating costs and attract investments in the EV sector.

According to NITI Aayog, 80% of two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and around 70% of cars in India will be electric vehicles by 2030. As India gears toward the 'zero-emission' 2070 dream, Evify's prime focus is directed toward electric mobility.

It has deployed around 200 electric vehicles in the last six months and is targeting to deploy 500 more by the end of 2022. Furthermore, it plans to expand operations in the neighbouring cities of Surat, like Vadodara, Valsad, Bharuch, and Rajkot.

"We are also targeting to develop our platform by adding geofencing, customised BMS, telematics, client insights, and driver & fleet management. EVIFY is also heavily engaged in R&D for the development of smart batteries to facilitate EV infrastructure," the founders said.

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