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Friday, March 29, 2024

Powered by EVs, Lightning Logistics aims to be India’s ‘one-stop’ answer for last-mile delivery

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Our country faces an unsolved challenge in the logistical sector, especially with regards to free and effective movement of goods across the country. This places an unprecedented economic burden on India and its ability to improve its growth prospects. Therefore Lightning Logistics was founded by Shreyas Shibulal, to be the ‘one-stop solution for India’s last-mile logistical needs’ contributing to its economic growth, job creation and an efficient system of logistical transport. The idea was to get a deeper understanding of the industry needs within the current EV ecosystem in the last-mile delivery space. Hence the thought of an intelligent EV fleet that would run pilots to understand last-mile connectivity, germinated which eventually took shape in the form of Lightning Logistics.

Lightning Logistics is a pure-play EV B2B last-mile delivery firm that provides customers with a seamless last-mile delivery experience with intelligent, data-driven logistical solutions. As of now, we have a fleet of about 1000 EVs operational in three cities (Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Chennai) across the verticals of e-commerce, grocery, courier and mom & pop stores.

For Lightning Logistics, we hire ‘Driver Captains’ and train them on how to use the e-bikes. We use the data and intelligence on our vehicles to determine the best fit for every micro-location to create a hassle-free experience and deliver service that is cleaner, faster and reliable. We also have battery storage stations and charging points created to ensure continuous charge availability for our e-bikes. Lightning Logistics is an intelligent data-driven logistics last-mile delivery company with a customer focus and it’s also a great place to work for Driver Captains. As a brand, we’re committed to solving India’s last-mile logistics connectivity issues. Lightning Logistics is an innovative, technology-driven brand with a solution-centric approach. Our service, backed by technology, training & data ensures reliable, on-time delivery.

Lightning Logistics

Lightning Logistics as a logistics partner with its all-EV fleet, helps organizations gain carbon credits and improve on their eco-responsibility. We are currently in the pilot stage that involves three cities across four major clients. Here, the riders and scooters are working for actual customers gathering a host of data/insights that we can give back to the customers. We are utilizing data from two perspectives – machine elements of data giving information like battery temperature, speed, voltage, ampere. Then there is a people dynamics of data, for eg: when has a driver checked in, where is he at the moment, how much cash is the driver carrying, which bike should a rider use and data around many other nuances. The data collected from both perspectives when combined will eventually help the customer. The Driver Captains are also currently using an app designed by us.

So what differentiates Lightning Logistics you ask? Well, in the last 10-15 years, the field of last-mile delivery has been about taking goods from point A to point B. At Lightning Logistics, we are using data to make the delivery process more efficient – from an internal efficiency perspective as well as an external client-facing efficiency perspective. Client facing efficiency has two sides to it – predictability and reliability. We are using data to do all of this in the backend and electric vehicles lend themselves easily to all these processes.

The future of last-mile delivery is anticipated to be EV driven as there are several factors that give EVs an upper hand in the micro-logistics space. To begin with, it’s because of the economics of EVs: Lower costs and easier operations. In India, productivity gain is massive as EVs can help overcome several inefficiencies in last-mile delivery, especially savings on fuel and asset cost. The initial cost of an ICE vehicle may be lower (for now), but EVs are significantly more economical considering the total cost of ownership over the lifetime of an asset.

Lightning Logistics artwork

Rising costs of fossil fuels significantly increase the cost of operations with a fossil fuel-driven fleet. Whereas the more you use an EV fleet the more you save, thereby reducing our dependence on crude oil. It’s a simple Capex vs. Opex comparison. While the battery may cost more when you first buy it, over the course of three years (let’s say), it’ll cost you less in electricity costs to charge the vehicle than it would to run the same number of kilometres on petrol or diesel. It will also offset the initial cost of the battery. Studies show that EVs are already economically viable if usage per day is between 100-200 km – an ideal scenario for commercial fleets. This scenario is even more appealing in an environment where fossil fuel prices are rising day-by-day and battery technology advancements are driving EV costs lower.

Moreover, EVs are far less complex and help provide transparency to the organizations in terms of reducing hidden costs by smarter tracking features like battery optimization, efficient routes, etc. resulting in long term profitability by integrated analytics on this data. Also, it’s easier to integrate EV with sensors and communication devices (because of the default electronic system). The data recorded from an entire fleet of EVs, can be centrally located. This opens the scope of road analytics, air quality analytics, route optimization and efficiency for the entire fleet.

Considering all of the above factors, it’s apt to say that Lightning Logistics is an intelligent data-driven logistics last-mile delivery company with a customer focus and a great place to work for Driver Captains. Lightning Logistics is a B2B last-mile logistics partner powered by EV fleet delivering on the promise of cleaner, faster and reliable solutions. Here the riders and scooters are working for actual customers gathering a host of data/insights that we can give back to the customers.

With the unprecedented rise in demand for doorstep delivery that followed the nationwide lockdown post COVID-19, came a huge demand for an increase in manpower. Lightning Logistics has already completed a year of its collaboration with a leading online grocery delivery company and it has recently also partnered with two of India’s leading e-commerce brands. In the coming financial year, we are also looking to grow our Lightning Logistics fleet, experiment with different categories of vehicles and establish a diversified client portfolio. We are also progressing well on building a cool EV form-factor for last-mile delivery. Watch this space…

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