Mahua Acharya Takes CESL Playbook to India’s Electric Truck Market

Mahua Acharya, the architect behind India’s massive government-led electric bus rollout, is shifting her attention  to the private sector with a new venture: INTENT.

Having previously held senior roles as MD & CEO  at Convergence Energy Services Ltd. (CESL), Assistant Director General at the Global Green Growth Institute, and positions at  the World Bank, Acharya is now attempting to replicate the CESL "demand aggregation" model for the heavy-duty freight industry.

Her vision  is to build the private-sector equivalent of CESL, focusing on 55-tonne commercial vehicles rather than public transit.  While her previous work relied on government departments and State Transport Undertakings (STUs), INTENT targets Corporate India, specifically heavy emitters in the steel, cement, pulp and paper, and chemicals sectors.

The Aggregation Playbook

INTENT’s strategy hinges on creating a coalition of voluntary leaders. The company currently works with a dozen industrial giants to aggregate their transportation needs into a single, bankable platform.

Unlike her role at CESL, where the agency sat on top of the ecosystem but did not always hold the final contract, INTENT intends to hold the contract directly with the corporate entity. The business model involves: Signing long-term green transportation contracts with shippers and securing commercial terms and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Charging Point Operators (CPOs). Furthermore, the task also involve inviting transporters or investors, such as the Transport Corporation of India Limited (TCI), to participate via closed-door auctions, tripartite agreements, or Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to run the trucks.

The Step Zero Challenge

Acharya describes the project's current status as step zero, primarily focused on building awareness and sensitizing the financial industry. While the first set of contracts is expected to be signed soon, the project faces a significant data vacuum.

Because there are almost no heavy-duty electric trucks currently on Indian roads, there is no operating history to give investors comfort. To bridge this gap, Acharya admits the first phase must be asset-heavy. INTENT plans to own and operate the first 20 to 25 vehicles itself to collect operating data, prove the concept across different sectors (like steel vs. cement), and build the confidence necessary to eventually shift to an asset-light model.

Financing and Regulatory Gaps

Financing remains a primary bottleneck. Acharya notes that Indian banks typically demand corporate guarantees because they have no history of lending to electric freight. While Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) are an option, their interest rates of 14% to 15% are too high to sustain an industrial transition. The goal is to unlock proper project finance based on the quality of the contracts and cash flows.

Beyond financing, Acharya argues that voluntary action is insufficient. "You don’t do any transformation in this country if it is voluntary," she noted, before calling  for explicit government targets for freight electrification, particularly regarding Scope 3 emissions.

Currently, many companies only report Scope 1 (Direct emissions from sources a company owns or controls) and scope 2 (Indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy). Acharya believes that if the government mandates green freight targets, it will create a "demand signal" that forces the market to move faster than any subsidy ever could.

The Business Case vs. The Risks

Despite the hurdles, the business case for electric freight is strengthening. Acharya argues that electric trucking can be cheaper than diesel over a long-term contract, providing a double win for companies with aggressive ESG and carbon-reduction goals.

However, the transition from buses to trucks is complex. Unlike buses, which have predictable routes and turnaround times, trucks face high route variability and cargo-specific operational needs. Every route change impacts battery efficiency and costs, meaning INTENT cannot easily switch OEMs once a trial is running.

The Way Forward

The strategic significance of INTENT lies in its potential to "commercially catalyze" a market that currently has only about 500 trucks on the road compared to the 63,000 electric buses already contracted. If Acharya can prove that electric trucking is reliable through her pilot fleet, it could unlock a massive new market for heavy-duty EVs in India and provide a blueprint for decarbonizing the country’s industrial backbone.