Jio-Bp, Zomato Partner to Expand EVs in Food Deliveries

Jio-Bp, the fuel and mobility joint venture between Reliance Industries and London-based BP, on Wednesday announced its partnership with Zomato to provide electric vehicle (EV) mobility services to the food aggregator to support its plans to have a 100 percent EV fleet by 2030. The new announcement comes just days after Jio-Bp reported plans to set up EV charging and battery-swapping stations across 12 cities in North India. The firm will set up its facilities at properties of real estate developer Omaxe.

In a joint statement, Jio-Bp said that it would provide EV mobility services to Zomato along with access to 'Jio-Bp Pulse' branded battery-swapping stations for last mile delivery.

Zomato last year joined nonprofit The Climate's global electric mobility programme EV100 to have 100 percent EVs for its fleet by 2030. The Gurugram-based company already has EVs on its platform in cities including Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai.

"The current EV fleet is a small fraction of the active fleet of delivery partners, and we understand that getting to 100 percent adoption of EVs will not be easy, but is essential in the long run," Zomato Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal had said while announcing its EV-focussed plans in June last year.

One of the key challenges for Zomato to expand its EV fleet is the lack of charging infrastructure and limited battery range. This could be resolved through the latest partnership.

Jio-Bp offers EV charging infrastructure to consumers under the Jio-Bp Pulse brand.

Earlier this month, the Indian subsidiary of British automotive MG Motor came together with lubricant brand Castrol to partner with Jio-Bp for exploring mobility solutions for EVs in the country. The joint venture also has TVS Motor and Mahindra Group as the key automobile companies to develop solutions for a range of consumer and commercial EVs.

In addition to Jio-Bp, Zomato has local vendors including Zypp, Eveez, and Bud-e in select cities to support its ongoing transition to the EV fleet.

Last year, Reliance BP Mobility, the company that operates under the Jio-Bp brand, partnered with Zomato's arch-rival Swiggy to develop an ecosystem for EV battery-swapping stations across the country. The partnership was also aimed to help build greener and cost-effective solutions for delivery fleets.

Jio-Bp also last week announced that it would set up its EV charging and battery-swapping infrastructure at various Omaxe properties across Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, New Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Patiala, Amritsar, Jaipur, Sonipat, and Bahadurgarh in a phased manner.

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