Essar Green Mobility expects a turnover of USD 1 billion (around Rs 8,850 crore) in the next three years as it is expanding its green trucking business under the strategy to decarbonise heavy-duty long-haul trucks, a top company official said.
The green mobility venture of conglomerate Essar Group offers clean fuel logistics solutions and also operates a fleet of heavy commercial vehicles powered by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and electricity.
“At Essar, we are working to address a critical aspect of road mobility by focusing on decarbonising heavy-duty long-haul trucks. These vehicles account for nearly 40-45 per cent of the country’s crude oil consumption, which is processed into diesel and used primarily for transporting steel, cement, iron ore, and many other goods,” B C Tripathi, Board Member of Essar Green Mobility, told PTI in an interview.
The objective is to decarbonise this segment for the larger benefit of both the public and industry.
When asked about the revenue guideline, Tripathi said the goal is to build a 10,000-truck platform over the next three years, which could become a USD 1 billion business. However, this will depend on the phase and the pace at which it is rolled out.
This effort will also support India’s net-zero target set by the government. Unless this segment is addressed, the overall impact on decarbonising mobility will remain limited.
“We are working to address that, and there are two pathways we are pursuing. The first is to focus on the immediate low-hanging fruit, which is replacing diesel with LNG. We are setting up an LNG-driven vehicle platform, which is already operational today with almost 700 trucks.
“The second piece involves moving towards electric trucks for short-haul operations. A formal launch will take place in the near future. Our goal is to deliver end-to-end solutions that help large industries decarbonise their logistics operations,” he explained.
The entire ecosystem is in place from the manufacturing of the trucks by Blue Energy Motors, to owning and operating them through Greenline, and providing fuelling stations through Ultra Gas & Energy.
This will reduce their logistics-related carbon footprint by almost 40 per cent, lower SOx (sulphur) emissions to nearly zero, and cut NOx (nitrogen) emissions by about 50 per cent. That is where it will make a major impact.
“We have already invested around USD 140 million in setting up the manufacturing facility, owning the trucks, and establishing dispensing stations. The second phase involves setting up our biofuel complex. While detailed engineering and costing are still underway, it is expected to be a far more economical project once established,” he said.
Source: The Economic Times
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