India Deploys 66 Electric Trucks to Cut Port Emissions

India just took a major leap toward cleaner shipping operations, and the numbers speak for themselves.

Energy In Motion, an Indian electric vehicle company, will deploy 66 heavy-duty electric trucks at two of the country's busiest ports starting next month. Transvolt Mobility will operate these 55-tonne electric tractors at Kandla Port in Gujarat and Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra, moving shipping containers within port facilities.

The switch from diesel to electric will prevent 3,300 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year. That's equivalent to taking about 700 cars off the road permanently.

What makes this deployment unique is the battery swapping technology. Each truck uses a 282 kilowatt-hour battery pack that can be swapped out in less than seven minutes. Drivers simply pull into a swapping station, exchange their depleted battery for a fully charged one, and get back on the road faster than it takes to fill a gas tank.

The trucks, called Ashwa, became India's first certified battery-swappable 55-tonne electric tractors last year. Energy In Motion already operates two battery swapping stations that completed over 4,000 battery swaps in 2025. The company plans to add eight more stations by the end of this month to support the expanded fleet.

The Ripple Effect

This project shows how the electric vehicle revolution is reaching beyond passenger cars into the toughest commercial applications. Heavy-duty freight trucks have long been considered too challenging for electrification because of their weight, power demands, and need for constant uptime.

The rapid battery swapping solves the downtime problem that has kept many fleet operators hesitant about electric trucks. Port operations need vehicles that can work around the clock, and seven-minute battery swaps make that possible without the hours-long charging breaks traditional electric vehicles require.

Energy In Motion plans to build a full manufacturing facility in Maharashtra with an investment of 97 million euros. The company holds exclusive rights to assemble and distribute Foton commercial vehicles over 18 tonnes in India for six years, positioning them to scale this clean freight solution nationwide.

India's ports handle millions of containers annually, and this shift to electric vehicles at two major facilities could inspire similar transitions across the country's extensive port network.

Clean freight is no longer just a dream for the future.