Montra Electric and Wonder Cement have announced the deployment of around 250 heavy-duty electric trucks — the Rhino 5538 EV 42 TT — across a 1,450-km corridor spanning Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, creating India’s longest commercial electric freight corridor. The trucks will operate on the Nimbahera to Dahej Port and Nimbahera to Tuna Port routes, running fully loaded on daily duty cycles in line with conventional diesel cement fleet operations.
The corridor is supported by 13 dedicated charging stations with 39 chargers, enabling the fleet to sustain long-distance daily operations within the turnaround times required by industrial logistics.
The Montra Electric Rhino 5538 EV is a 55-tonne gross combination weight electric tractor-trailer powered by a 282 kWh LFP battery and a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor delivering 280 kW of peak power and 2,000 Nm of torque. It offers a tested range of up to 198 km per charge on a loaded and empty duty cycle and is available in both fast-charge and battery-swap variants, with the swap version completing a full battery replacement in under six minutes. At full deployment, the fleet is expected to save 39,500 tonnes of CO₂ annually.
Mr. Kiran Patil, Managing Director of Wonder Cement, said the deployment of 250 electric trucks on a 1,450-km industrial corridor is a significant step toward decarbonising logistics and demonstrates that long-haul freight electrification is both operationally reliable and commercially viable.
Mr. Jalaj Gupta, Managing Director of Montra Electric, said the deployment moves the question from whether electric trucks can handle long-haul freight to how quickly fleets can scale them, underlining the company’s commitment to deploying electric heavy commercial vehicles across India’s key industrial corridors.
Mr. Navneet Sethi, CEO of the eM&HCV division at Montra Electric, said demonstrating commercial and operational viability on an intensive 1,450-km industrial corridor establishes that sustainable long-haul logistics is ready to scale today.
