Switch Mobility, the electric vehicle (EV) arm of commercial vehicle major Ashok Leyland, is aiming to build battery packs in-house in the long term A senior official of the company affirmed that with the higher adoption of electric buses in India, it will also be making battery cells, motors and other critical parts at its EV facilities.
“We have a short term, mid-term and a long-term strategy. So the short term strategy is to get the best battery pack available (and) which we are buying from a supplier from India. Our intention is to get into battery pack design and manufacturing with a partner soon,” Mahesh Babu, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, told Moneycontrol in an exclusive interaction. However, he didn't reveal the plant location and other details.
Switch Mobility, which specialises in electric buses and light commercial vehicles, sources a variety of battery packs from Tata Auto Component (TACO). At present, Switch-branded vehicles are assembled at Ashok Leyland facilities-e-buses in Ennore and e-LCVs at Hosur. Speculation is rife that the EV manufacturing operations in these plants will be consolidated and moved to Switch Mobility’s proposed new plant in Tamil Nadu once it gets operational.
“Eventually, we may even invest in making battery cells, which will be made by the parent company, the Hinduja Group. So, we are working on various strategies based on the various geopolitical factors. We are also looking (to leverage on) PLI, ACC, incentives all that. We'll come up with a strategy when we are ready,” added Babu.
Babu also acknowledged that there are some “short term challenges” to localise all its electric buses in the domestic market. In his view, “We need a good supply chain to deliver world-class products. We need to have design and testing capabilities to European standards. We also need to have the skill of fit-and-finish into the manufacturing line. All three factors put together are available in the Sherborne facility in the UK. Fortunately, we can utilise that capability.”
Meanwhile, Switch Mobility launched the low-floor variant of EiV12 along with E1 intra-city battery-driven buses. The company has invested Rs 100 crore for EiV12 (for low-floor variant) and 10-15 million pounds for the E1 (tailormade for European market). The company claimed that Switch EiV12 platform is indigenously designed, developed and manufactured for urban city commutes.
As Babu puts it, “Both are ground up EV buses for both domestic and overseas markets. EiV12 will not just provide the total cost of operations (TCO) benefits to transport operators but will ensure transparency as it has connected technologies. Also, we are getting into the European market for the first time with our E1, which will be delivered in Spain initially.” He also revealed that that the company has garnered 1,800 orders for the EiV12 from various State Transport Undertakings (STUs) in the country.
Earlier, Switch Mobility’s parent company Ashok Leyland stated that it will wait for valuations of electric vehicle companies to become more attractive before approaching the market to raise funds for its Electric Vehicle (EV) arm.
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