A Gurgaon-based start-up strives to bring a fresh approach to green, sustainable solutions for logistics needs. The DOT brand was set up in 2015 and is part of Green Valley Energy Ventures Pvt. Ltd. DH's Dalu Jose spoke to DOT Managing Director Vineet J. Mehra about the company and its mission.
How are your logistics services helping the environment?
India has the largest number of cities that are polluted and it is extremely necessary to offer sustainable transportation services to bring down the emission level through a green mobility platform, thereby reducing the carbon footprint. Adopting Electric Vehicle-based (EV) solutions brings impactful results - better air quality, reduced noise pollution and carbon emission. Major corporates are now shifting towards green and environment-friendly logistics services and contributing their share. DOT is a cutting-edge delivery enterprise that is cost effective and provides unique solutions through its fleet of e-cargo, vans and electric bikes.
Why are e-vehicles the need of the hour?
The environment clock is ticking and if urgent measures are not taken, it may prove to be the death knell for our planet. Conventional transport vehicles are a proven source of carbon emissions and this challenge can be overcome by adopting EV-based solutions. Innovative transport solutions for first- and last-mile deliveries are areas where EVs will prove to be a boon for future generations. With the above environmental aspects and benefits, EVs are essential.
What is the future of e-vehicles in India?
The world is quickly adapting to electric vehicles and in the next couple of decades, EVs are going to be more mainstream than internal combustion vehicles. EVs are the nearest alternative to reduce emission levels in major cities. EVs are as much as 90% efficient with nearly zero pollution in operation. The Indian government has announced measures to encourage conventional vehicle owners to switch to EVs. The GOI plans indicate that vehicles will be fully electric by 2030, so India will be one of the largest markets for electric vehicles in the world, possibly only behind China. The current challenges are the implementation of the incentives/subsidies and development of a good network of charging infrastructure across the country.
What have your mobility services achieved in terms of CO2 reduction?
DOT is currently delivering 7 to 9 million orders a year and growing rapidly. It's poised to achieve 103 to 110 million orders by FY 2019-20 using EVs, thereby reducing the carbon footprint by almost 53,000 tonnes of CO2 per annum and other greenhouse gases (average km per order – 1 km, commercial LMV emits 515.2 g/km of CO2 as per Mittal and Sharma survey report). DOT has been able to construct a model based on optimising environment-friendly technology and arriving at solutions that are both people- and environment-friendly.
What's next for you?
The focus is on creating an ecosystem that is electric, safe, cost-effective, sustainable and environment-friendly. In the next phase of expansion, we aim to become the country’s first zero-emission organisation by using renewable energy for our fleet and other operations.