Switch Mobility of Ashok Leyland to Invest Rs 1,000 Crore in EV Plant

Ashok Leyland is looking bullish on electrification of the buses business in a big way. The major Indian auto player in the large vehicles’ segment has planned to invest Rs 1,000 crore in a dedicated electric vehicle (EV) plant in coming days.

Ashok Leyland will be investing through its subsidiary Switch Mobility in South India. As per the reports, the dedicated EV production plant will come up in the outskirts of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. The upcoming facility will have a manufacturing capacity of 30,000 units of electric light commercial vehicles. It will also roll out 10,000 units of electric buses.

It has also been learnt from sources that a battery pack for light commercial vehicles and buses will also be created in under one roof in the future plant. Ashok Leyland has EV manufacturing operations in its other plants which will now be consolidated and shifted to the proposed new EV plant of Switch Mobility once it is ready to operate.

Ashok Leyland has manufacturing spaces in its existing manufacturing plants in Ennore district of Tamil Nadu. The company is making electric buses in Ennore. It has also been reported that Switch Mobility will also utilise some space in the Hosur plant of Ashok Leyland for electric LCVs.

Mahesh Babu, Chief Operating Officer of Switch Mobility, said, “We are exploring many locations. We have not yet decided. Our intention is to close it in the next six months. 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.”

As per reports, electric Dost and Bada Dost LCVs will be launched in early 2023. Mahesh Babu added, “We will not do a soft launch. After the launch we will probably get a ramp-up immediately.”

Last month, Switch Mobility had announced that it will be investing more than Rs 3,000 crore on carbon emission-less public and commercial transportation system in Spain.