Wonder Cement joins the cement charge into electric trucks
Wonder Cement has ordered about 250 heavy electric trucks from Montra Electric
With a 250-strong Montra order
Days after JK Cement began hauling cement on 55-tonne electric trucks, another cement maker has made a similar bet: Wonder Cement has ordered about 250 heavy electric trucks from Montra Electric, the Murugappa Group's clean-mobility brand, to move cement across a 1,450-km corridor spanning four states.
The trucks, Montra's 55-tonne Rhino 5538 EV tractor-trailers, will run the Nimbahera to Dahej Port and Nimbahera to Tuna Port routes across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, which the companies call India's longest commercial electric freight corridor, supported by 13 charging stations with 39 chargers. Montra says the truck has a tested range of about 198 km per charge and a 282 kWh battery, with a swap option that changes the pack in under six minutes. At full deployment the fleet is expected to cut about 39,500 tonnes of CO2 a year, the companies said.
As with the JK Cement deal, the headline number is an order, not trucks on the road. Montra began deliveries with a first batch of 65 trucks in early July, part of a 260-unit order, with the rest to follow over the coming months. Neither company disclosed the contract value, though at an ex-factory price of about INR 1.15 crore per truck, roughly 250 units would imply an order worth around INR 290 crore. [verify the value, and whether Wonder Cement's 250 is that same 260-unit order]
It fits a pattern we traced this week: large shippers, cement makers especially, shifting heavy freight onto electric trucks through intermediaries that carry the vehicles, charging and financing, even as electric trucks remain about 0.25% of India's heavy goods vehicles and cost more upfront than diesel. Cement, steel, ports and logistics are the segments the government has flagged as early adopters under its PM E-DRIVE truck incentives.
Montra Electric is TI Clean Mobility, part of the 125-year-old Murugappa Group; its Rhino fleet has crossed 1.2 crore km with cement and steel customers, including UltraTech.
