GreenLine Mobility to Supply 25 LNG Trucks to Flipkart for Green Supply Chains

GreenLine Mobility Solutions, a logistics company, on Monday, announced that it would supply e-commerce company Flipkart with liquefied natural gas (LNG) trucks, as reported by Reuters. 

GreenLine, an Essar Group subsidiary, would deploy 25 LNG-powered trucks to Walmart-owned Flipkart. These trucks will be used to transport goods from west to north India, and the collaboration will eventually expand to further routes.

Mumbai-based GreenLine currently has around 500 LNG-powered trucks and has ordered over 2,000 more, the company’s chief operating officer Kaizad Palia told Reuters earlier. He added that the only downside is a lack of fuelling stations outside of western India. "We will expand our operations with the expansion of fuel stations in the country," he said. 

Among its other clients are Reliance, TVS Motor and Tata Steel. 

Meanwhile, Flipkart announced last month that it has deployed over 10,000 electric vehicles (EVs) in its delivery fleet. As part of its sustainability initiatives, it launched ‘Flipkart Green’, a virtual store on the app, in early 2023. The section offers more than 30,000 organic, cruelty-free and environment-friendly products from over 40 brands, according to the company website. Flipkart claims to have achieved 100 per cent elimination of single-use plastic in its own supply chain in July 2021.

A Sustainable Alternative

India is at an early stage of LNG-powered truck roll-out, with 645 such trucks operational as of now, according to transport ministry data. However, the government has set an ambitious target of converting about one-third of its heavy truck fleet of over 7mn vehicles in five to seven years.

India aims to increase the share of natural gas in the country's total primary energy mix to 15 per cent by 2030, from about 6 per cent today. 

LNG is formed by cooling natural gas to -162 degree Celsius, to reduce its volume down to 1/600 for better storage and transportation. A versatile fuel, it can be used to power automotive as well as in industrial heating applications.

It reduces toxic emissions significantly compared to diesel—CO2 by upto 30 per cent, CO by upto 70 per cent, SOx by upto 100 per cent, NOx by upto 59 per cent and particulate matter by upto 91 per cent, according to GreenLine website. While it is not completely a green alternative, it is much less polluting than the traditional fuels like petrol and diesel.