JSW Group Enters Electric Truck, Bus Market With ₹2,500 Crore Investment
The company showcased a 55-tonne electric tractor-trailer and an electric bus in Mumbai ahead of production at its Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar factory in Maharashtra in a month
Mumbai: JSW Greentech of JSW Group on Tuesday forayed into commercial vehicles market with its new Ampstar brand to produce and sell electric trucks and buses with an initial investment of Rs 2,500 crore.
The company showcased a 55-tonne electric tractor-trailer and an electric bus in Mumbai ahead of production at its Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar factory in Maharashtra in a month, officials said.
“We are investing Rs 2,500 crore in the first phase of the electric commercial vehicle business,” Parth Jindal, JSW Group, told Financial Chronicle on the sidelines of the launch. He said the 90-acre plant will have annual manufacturing capacity for 15,000 vehicles, comprising 10,000 electric buses and 5,000 electric trucks.
Sumit Mittal, CEO at JSW Greentech said Ampstar will initially focus on 55-tonne tractor-trailers used in sectors such as steel, cement, mining and ports.
The company plans to expand its truck range with tippers, fixed-body trucks and dumpers before entering other commercial vehicle categories, he added.
“The trucks will be offered with fixed and swappable battery architectures. Battery configurations will be customised according to the application and the customer’s operating requirements,” Mittal noted.
He said the Amstar vehicles are not an off-the-shelf products but they are customised. “Depending on the features and the application, the prices will vary,” Mittal said.
He said the company will initially focus on closed-loop operations, where trucks run on predictable routes connecting factories, mines, ports and other industrial locations.
“These applications allow charging or battery-swapping infrastructure to be installed at fixed points,” Mittal pointed out.
Significantly, JSW’s steel, cement and port businesses are served by around 17,000 trucks, providing Ampstar with a captive ecosystem in which to deploy vehicles and demonstrate their operating economics.
The electric bus portfolio will span vehicles measuring seven to 18 metres. Planned applications include staff transportation, city services, school buses and airport-tarmac operations.
The Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar facility will include truck-cabin manufacturing, electric-bus body building and battery-pack assembly. Battery cells will initially be imported.