Divyansh Joshi, CEO of BMR EV, drives the company’s mission to deliver innovative and reliable electric mobility solutions tailored to India’s diverse terrain. With a background in defense and infrastructure leadership, he is dedicated to shaping clean, high-performance mobility solutions for both India’s urban and rural markets.
He shared his insights with Industry Outlook on how India’s last-mile logistics is rapidly evolving through homegrown electric vehicles designed for diverse terrains, supported by smart technologies, collaborative innovation, and regulatory initiatives, while addressing infrastructure challenges to build a sustainable and efficient delivery ecosystem.
Key takeaways:
With urban congestion rising and the demand for faster, more sustainable delivery solutions accelerating across India, last-mile logistics is undergoing a significant transformation. Various players in the sector have been opted to building electric vehicles (EVs) designed specifically for Indian terrain and logistics demands.
This report reflects our ground-level insights and real-world experience as a homegrown EV manufacturer, navigating the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of sustainable last-mile transportation.
Electric two-wheelers are no longer just a personal transport solution — they are becoming the backbone of last-mile delivery. With the explosion of e-commerce, food delivery, and hyperlocal logistics, businesses are shifting from diesel vans to compact, efficient EVs. Now companies are developing a high-load-capacity electric scooters and bikes that are purpose-built for Indian road conditions, from congested metros to narrow rural alleys.
What’s more, integrating micro-mobility solutions with interchangeable battery packs and low maintenance needs makes EVs not just sustainable, but also operationally profitable. Fleets that once suffered from fuel price volatility are now seeing savings of ₹4,000–₹6,000 per vehicle per month on fuel alone.
Sustainability isn't just about the vehicle — it's about the intelligence behind how it's used. Route optimization and real-time fleet analytics are rapidly becoming the differentiators in last-mile logistics.
By embedding IoT-enabled telematics in vehicles, companies can help fleet operators monitor battery performance, schedule predictive maintenance, and reduce idle time. AI-based route planning ensures fewer kilometers traveled per delivery, lowering energy consumption while boosting per-trip productivity. Data isn’t just improving margins — it’s also reducing emissions.
One of the largest roadblocks to EV fleet expansion remains the lack of widespread charging and service infrastructure. While metro cities are beginning to see progress, rural and Tier 2/3 towns, where demand for logistics is soaring, still lack dependable EV support networks.
EV industries have taken a decentralized approach by integrating battery swapping, localized service centers, and portable charging solutions to bridge this gap. However, industry-wide scalability needs robust public-private collaboration to build a reliable nationwide charging grid, particularly for commercial applications.
Policies such as FAME II, state EV subsidies, and urban low-emission zones are accelerating EV adoption, but uneven policy execution and unclear guidelines still hinder fleet operators from confidently transitioning.
Government incentives must now be complemented with stricter enforcement of TCRs (Type Certification Requirements), especially as many unsafe, low-speed, and uncertified imports flood the market. Investment in certified green fleets should be backed by compliance-driven recognition, financing access, and inclusion in logistics contracts, especially for last-mile deliveries connected to government e-marketplaces (GeM) and large enterprises.
No single entity can transform last-mile logistics alone. The future lies in strategic collaborations between OEMs, logistics aggregators, fintech players, battery technology startups, and local governments.
Industry players can partner with regional logistics providers, battery tech innovators, and rural entrepreneurs to co-develop solutions suited for diverse operating environments. Such alliances have helped the companies to improve vehicle lifespans, reduce downtime, and offer flexible lease and finance models that accelerate adoption even among small kirana store delivery agents and local vendors.
While ground-based logistics continues to evolve, the next frontier includes autonomous delivery vehicles, drone logistics, and AI-based supply chain orchestration. Although these may seem futuristic in the Indian context, prototypes are already in motion globally.
For India, the transition will be more hybrid, semi-autonomous EVs with advanced sensors, real-time dispatching systems, and hub-based drone launches for hard-to-reach zones. Furthermore, the vehicle companies should actively invest in R&D focused on vehicle automation readiness, ensuring they stay ahead of the curve when the regulatory landscape evolves.
India’s last-mile delivery revolution will not be won by speed alone—it will be shaped by sustainability, safety, scalability, and intelligence. As a result, vehicle companies can be the voice of India’s homegrown innovation in this space, creating robust, affordable, and high-performance EVs built for our roads, our delivery heroes, and our environment.
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