Agritech major WayCool joins global electric vehicle initiative

WayCool, a leading food and agritech company, joined hands with Climate Group, an international non-profit organisation for the EV100 initiative, which aims to make electric transport the new normal through commitments from forward-looking companies to transition their fleets to electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030. The announcement comes in the backdrop of Climate Week NYC 2022, also run by Climate Group.

By joining EV100, WayCool will transition its last-mile delivery fleet to electric by 2030. They will also install charging points at 50 locations across India for staff and customers by 2030. Operating in 50 regions across the country, WayCool handles more than 1200 tonnes of food products daily, with a network of over 150K farmers. EV100 commitments from businesses like WayCool will go a long way in decarbonising the food processing and agri-commerce supply chain.

As the EV100 initiative celebrates its fifth anniversary this month at Climate Week NYC, WayCool joins over 120 companies globally – 13 of which are from India – who have made the commitment. Together they are committing over 5.5 million vehicles to electric by 2030.

Karthik Jayaraman, Managing Director & Co-Founder at WayCool said: “We are happy to join EV100 at this time of celebration for the initiative. The food and agriculture sectors contribute to global greenhouse gas emissions significantly. As a purpose-driven organisation, and one of India's fastest-growing food and agri-tech platforms, we are committed to developing and driving a climate-resilient supply chain and a sustainable food economy”.

“In the past seven years, we have demonstrated with multiple case studies how organisations can be climate-smart and business-smart too. Electrifying fleets is one of our prime focus areas. We have valuable insights to share with the wider EV100 community, having already transitioned 20% of our last-mile delivery fleet to EVs. We look forward to playing an active and collaborative part in the journey to fully electric road transportation”, he added.

Divya Sharma, India Executive Director at Climate Group, said: "We welcome WayCool to EV100, as it joins a global network of forward-looking companies taking ambitious strides in climate action. WayCool has set an example for similar businesses in the country by committing to scale up efforts in electric transport. We also appreciate their economically inclusive approach in pursuit of climate targets."

Karthik also joined Climate Week NYC as one of the senior speakers in the session “Are We There Yet? EV100 and steering the global market to fully electric”. Speakers deliberated key barriers to electrifying fleets and explore how to tackle these.

– business@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai