One trend that Global Cement Weekly has noted in recent months has been investment by Indian cement companies in electric vehicles (EV). Producers including UltraTech Cement, JK Cement, Dalmia Cement and Wonder Cement have all enlarged their fleets. Let’s explore what’s been happening.
UltraTech Cement said in September 2026 that it was scaling up its EV fleet to over 600 trucks by December 2026. It has signed contracts with manufacturers including Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, IPLTech, Energy in Motion, Sany and others to make it happen. The total fleet will transport about 5Mt/yr of clinker and other materials in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Odisha. It will also allow the company to avoid using 39Ml/yr of diesel. The producer started using compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks in 2021 and EVs in 2024. Its CNG and EV fleet currently surpasses 850 trucks.
There have been other cement companies investing too. Dalmia Cement (Bharat) said at the end of September 2026 that it was working with SwitchLabs Automobiles and Energy In Motion. This project has deployed 24 EV trucks for the transportation of bulk raw materials, including petcoke, slag and gypsum from Karaikal Port to its cement plants in Dalmiapuram and Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu. Dalmia Cement and SwitchLabs have also reportedly developed a trailer-swap operating model designed to improve utilisation and reduce idle time for EV trucks. Under the model, an electric tractor can interchange trailers rather than remaining idle during loading and unloading activities.
Back in July 2026 Wonder Cement and Montra Electric announced the deployment of around 250 Rhino 5538 EV 4×2 TT EV trucks. At the time Montra Electric said that the trucks would operate across the Nimbahera - Dahej Port and Nimbahera - Tuna Port routes, covering approximately 1450km across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. It added that this made it India's longest commercial electric freight corridor. Crucially, the supplier also mentioned charging infrastructure. This comprised 13 charging stations with 39 chargers. Some other key details to note included that the 5538 EV 4x2 TT truck has a 282kWh Lithium Iron Phosphate battery that has a range of up to 198km per charge on a one-way loaded, one-way empty duty cycle. It is also available in two configurations: a standard fixed-battery variant capable of fast-charging from 20% to 100% in about 60 minutes; and a battery-swap variant that enables a full battery replacement in under six minutes.
Finally, JK Cement also revealed in July 2026 that it has entered into a partnership with Billion Electric to deploy more than 150 EV trucks during the financial year. The arrangement will start with deployment of 20 EV trucks from JK Cement’s Muddapur plant in Karnataka. The trucks are intended to transport cement to stockyards in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa. Similar to the Wonder Cement - Montra Electric deployment, Billion Electric Mobility will also be providing charging infrastructure as well as fleet operations and route planning. It was preparing to use ChargeZone’s charging network in the three states.
Back in 2024 the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) and Confederation of Indian Industry released a report on how electrification could be introduced to the cement and raw material sector. It noted that using EV trucks could potentially cut logistic costs by 25 - 40% and that vehicles that operated over 8000km/month were ready to save money under energy and infrastructure prices at the time the report was published. Needless to say the reduction in CO2 emissions would be immediate. It also said that in the 2020 - 2021 financial year road transportation represented 74 - 76% of total cement movement with most of these journeys being trips of up to 300km. For an average integrated cement plant, just under half of these trips (49%) were internal movements related to clinker production. The next 41% were outbound trips concerned with cement followed by 2% of trips related to slag and 7% with fly ash. Challenges noted to using EV trucks included the higher procurement costs for EV trucks, battery cost and maintenance issues, the necessity for charging infrastructure, reduced payload due the battery size, maintenance issues with the new vehicle types and reliance on imports for the trucks and parts.
Media commentators have pointed out that the cement sector in India is particularly suitable to adopt EVs early. This is principally due to the business generally having known routes that charging infrastructure can be built for rather than having to build a widespread network of chargers such as for consumer automotive. Throw in the cost savings suggested by the CMI and the recent wave of EV deals by cement companies in India starts to make sense. There are also a number of government policies that are aiding the transition such as the PM E-DRIVE truck incentive and various state initiatives. The other counterintuitive thing here is that diesel prices may not be the primary driver. Europe and North America have increasingly become preoccupied with mounting diesel prices. India, whilst not immune to the underlying geopolitical causes, has a large refining base and has been exporting diesel.
In conclusion, switching EV trucks appear to be making financial sense for cement producers in India and these companies are investing accordingly. The transition isn’t without its issues as mentioned above, particularly with financing and the change in logistic mindset of working around recharging a battery rather than filling a fuel tank. We intend to report back on this topic in future months as it develops, both in India and elsewhere.
