Swiggy Partners Gogoro To Boost Electrification Of Last-Mile Delivery

Food delivery major Swiggy has partnered with Taiwanese battery-swapping giant Gogoro to further enable the electrification of the startup’s last-mile delivery.

As per the terms of the partnership, the global tech major will provide Swiggy with Gogoro smartscooters and battery-swapping infrastructure to transform its hyperlocal deliveries in a more cost-effective manner.

It is pertinent to note that in 2021, Swiggy had committed to cover 8 Lakh kilometers every day through deliveries by EVs by 2025 and switch at least 10% of its delivery fleet to electric. The startup also entered into strategic partnerships with industry leaders including Reliance BP Mobility Limited and Hero Lectro.

With these steps taken, Swiggy now claims to be at the forefront of sustainable transportation. The food delivery major claims that EV adoption has helped its delivery partners save up to 40% of the vehicle running cost, which positively impacted their earnings.   

Commenting on the partnership, Mihir Shah, head of operations at Swiggy, said that the collaboration marks another ‘significant stride’ in the startup’s vision to develop more environment-friendly and economical options for its delivery fleet.

Founded in 2014, Swiggy is one of the major players in the food delivery market in the country, which is largely a duopoly of the startup and Zomato. Swiggy claims to have over 2.5 Lakh restaurant partners on its platform across hundreds of cities. Besides food delivery, its quick commerce grocery service Instamart is also present in over 25 cities. Recently, the startup claimed to have achieved profitability in its food delivery business as of March 2023.

With the government promoting adoption of EVs in the country to cut down India’s carbon emissions, EV adoption has leapfrogged in the last couple of years. Besides, with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) becoming a major aspect of businesses worldwide, Indian startups have also started focussing on reducing plastic usage, increasing EV adoption, among other sustainable practices.

Major startups, including Flipkart and Zomato, have partnered with several EV manufacturers such as Hero Electric, Mahindra Electric, Piaggio, and TVS Motors to fast-track the adoption of EVs in their logistics fleet.

Indian EV startup Zypp Electric also provides its escooters for last-mile delivery purpose to the likes of Zomato, Swiggy, Amazon, BigBasket, Flipkart, Myntra, Delhivery, and several others. Yulu has also brought in a wave of electrification in the last-mile delivery space with its two-wheeler model, Dex, and Yuma Energy battery swapping stations.