Mint explainer: What is the new PACT under Niti Aayog’s e-truck plan?

India is pushing to electrify its truck fleet, but high vehicle costs, limited charging infrastructure and weak demand have slowed adoption. Mint explains how Niti Aayog’s new PACT aims to bridge these gaps.

India is trying to accelerate the shift from diesel to electric trucks, but high vehicle costs, inadequate charging infrastructure and limited demand have kept adoption low.

Against this backdrop, a new Platform for Aggregating Clean Transport (PACT) was launched earlier this week under Niti Aayog’s 2022 e-FAST platform to aggregate demand for electric trucks.

Mint explains the rationale behind the move, with only 1,688 electric medium and heavy trucks sold in 2026, as compared to 266,112 diesel trucks in the same period.

Why does Niti Aayog want to move away from diesel trucks?

There are multiple reasons. Diesel trucks disproportionately impact the environment. They make up only 3% of India’s vehicles but are responsible for around 34% of its vehicular carbon emissions.

These trucks also account for 55% of India’s diesel demand, according to Niti Aayog. This has become particularly important in recent months as energy security concerns rose amid the Strait of Hormuz blockade during the US-Iran war, which started in February. India depends on imported crude oil for 85-90% of its annual demand.

India imported $123 billion worth of crude oil in FY26, down from $137 billion in the previous fiscal.

Given this dependence on imported oil, India has been pushing electric vehicles as a way to reduce its exposure to fossil fuels. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May called for faster adoption of electric mobility across various vehicle segments.

What are the challenges in shifting from diesel to electric trucks?

Electric trucks are still a nascent market in India. Only 1,688 medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks were sold till September 2026, compared with 266,112 diesel trucks in the same period.

The main hurdle is cost. An e-truck costs more than twice as much as its diesel counterpart, making it difficult for operators to procure. With upfront costs of over ₹1 crore, the asset also requires a carefully planned ecosystem of financing and charging infrastructure, which is currently not available in India.

Charging infrastructure is another major gap. Only nine, or 0.01%, of India’s 67,657 public EV charging stations have capacity higher than 240 kilowatts (kW). Such ‘superchargers’ are particularly important for heavy commercial electric vehicles such as buses and trucks, which run on high-capacity batteries of over 250 kilowatt-hours.

So, how will PACT help?

PACT is designed to aggregate demand for electric trucks in smaller clusters or regions. This could help secure lower upfront costs for each truck and potentially unlock benefits from financiers and charge point operators (CPOs), which operate charging infrastructure, according to Christoph Wolff, founder of Amsterdam-based non-profit think tank Smart Freight Centre, a knowledge partner with Niti Aayog on the e-FAST initiative.

Niti Aayog’s 2022 e-FAST India, which stands for Electric Freight Accelerator for Sustainable Transport-India, is a platform for accelerating the adoption of electric trucking in the country. The platform brings together stakeholders across the freight ecosystem and has supported pilot deployments and the transition towards electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.

PACT is designed to aggregate freight demand from shippers, logistics service providers (LSPs) and other ecosystem stakeholders and translate it into deployment opportunities across identified freight corridors, a Niti Aayog statement said on 7 September.

"We will look at what demand aggregation means specifically; what kind of demand, where and what granurality, for what purpose, etc. And while a platform is a good start, there needs to be an operating model behind that," said Wolff, whose organisation has worked in India for the last three years.

How has government policy supported e-trucks?

The first government support for electric trucks came in the form of subsidies worth ₹500 crore for 5,643 medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks under the PM E-Drive scheme in 2024.

However, the response has been tepid because of high compliance requirements under the scheme. It requires comparable diesel trucks to be scrapped in order to claim incentives. Only 53 e-trucks had been incentiviZed under the scheme till September this year, with incentives slated to continue till FY28.

More recently, the government, through the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) under the Union power ministry, started working on fuel economy norms for trucks to reduce fuel consumption and shift to cleaner powertrains. The government, along with industry, is also building a homegrown truck-testing tool to collect real-world emissions data from India’s trucks.

Tarun Kapoor, advisor to the Prime Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), said last week at the annual convention of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) that India needs to convert to electric mobility “in a big way”, with trucks being a major focus area.

“My main concern is heavy vehicles, particularly trucks. Because unless we do something about that sector, diesel then continues to be a major bottleneck for us, because refineries can make a certain quantity of diesel, a certain quantity of petrol. So if the petrol part starts reducing we can't allow diesel to stay at the same level so that also has to reduce. Some movement towards CNG (compressed natural gas) did happen but now we need to move into electric in a big way,” said Kapoor.

About the Author

Manas is a New Delhi-based journalist with Mint, where he covers the intersection of economic policy, industry, and emerging sectors shaping India’s growth. He writes on government regulation, manufacturing, and the clean energy transition, with particular depth in areas such as electric mobility, battery ecosystems, and rare-earth supply chains. He has written on India’s efforts to build domestic capacity in electric vehicles and energy storage, as well as the broader push to reduce import dependence and strengthen supply chain resilience. His reports are not limited to capturing the headline; they also aim to explain complex policy simply.<br><br>Manas has studied law in Pune, the city where he grew up, followed by a business journalism diploma from the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai. In his almost two years of being a correspondent for Mint, Manas has reported as major wars unfolded, a general election brought surprises for both the ruling party and the Opposition, and three Union Budget announcements where India has charted its economic course for the days to come.<br><br>On vacation, Manas plays bass guitar with his friends in Space & Co, their jam-rock band. He also likes cats, and occasions of late-night snacking.