Ashok Leyland’s electric vehicle arm Switch Mobility will invest Rs 1,000 crore in a dedicated electric vehicle (EV) plant in South India, reports Economic Times.
The plant will likely be set up on the outskirts of Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu, the people in the know of matter were quoted in the ET report as saying.
The plant will reportedly have a capacity of manufacturing 30,000 units of electric light commercial vehicles (e-LCVs) and 10,000 units of electric buses.
The EV plant will have an LCV and bus and battery pack assembly under one roof.
The company currently manufactures electric buses in a dedicated portion of Ashok Leyland’s Ennore plant in Tamil Nadu.
For electric LCVs, Switch Mobility will tap some space in Ashok Leyland’s Hosur plant, ET reported.
The EV manufacturing operations in these plants will be consolidated and moved to Switch Mobility’s proposed new plant once it is ready.
“We are exploring many locations (to set up the new plant). We have not yet decided. Our intention is to close it in the next six months,” Babu told ETAuto.
“The total capacity, to be ramped up in phases, will stand at over 40,000 units with e-LCVs having a share above 30,000,” he said.
The first of the electric Dost and Bada Dost LCVs is scheduled for launch in early 2023.
“We will not do a soft launch. After the launch we will probably get a ramp-up immediately,” Babu added.