India’s freight sector is at a pivotal moment in its transition toward sustainable and zero-emission transport. Achieving meaningful progress will require more than technology readiness - it demands data-driven collaboration, coordinated investment, and scalable deployment strategies. The Smart Freight Centre’s Data Partnership Program is designed to meet this challenge head-on.

This report introduces the Data Partnership Program and its role in accelerating the adoption of Zero-Emission Trucks (ZETs) across India. Anchored in strategic collaboration with key stakeholders—shippers, logistics service providers (LSPs), policymakers, and financial institutions—the program aligns closely with India’s electrification vision under the PM e-Drive scheme and the e-FAST India platform.

Moving beyond pilot-scale experimentation, the program emphasizes corridor-level deployment across major freight highways. By integrating real-world freight data with structured stakeholder engagement, it identifies high-potential, replicable use cases where demand aggregation, ecosystem readiness, and policy support intersect.

Key achievements include:

• Technical and economic analysis of over 50 use cases across 50 routes;
• Identification of viable deployment clusters, especially in sectors like cement and containerized logistics;
• Mapping of infrastructure and investment gaps that must be bridged to enable scale.

Rather than proposing a generic solution, the program delivers fit-for-purpose electrification strategies, tailored to specific freight corridors, operating models, and logistical realities. Its structured approach blends route-level data, business needs, and ecosystem constraints to prioritize actionable pathways for ZET adoption.

Finally, the report outlines a forward-looking roadmap to scale, including:

• Demand aggregation strategies,
• Blended financing approaches, and
• Policy interventions to unlock corridor-level zero-emission freight ecosystems.

Through this report, Smart Freight Centre aims to equip stakeholders with concrete insights, deployment strategies, and policy recommendations that directly support India’s ambitious ZET goals—delivering environmental, economic, and operational value across the freight sector.   
 

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