Maharashtra & Gogoro to Partner on $1.5 Billion Ultra Mega Project

The Maharashtra government presented Gogoro Inc. with an offer letter to enter into an ‘Ultra Mega Project’ agreement to manufacture vehicles, smart battery packs, and battery swap stations, and deploy an open and accessible battery swapping infrastructure in the State beginning late 2023. The announcement was made  by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

The initiative will leverage Gogoro’s smart energy ecosystem including smart battery stations, swapping technologies, network management solutions, and will provide innovations to the State, contributing in the areas of smart city design and development, energy storage stations & systems, smart mobility sharing, smart electric vehicles, demand response services, and distributed energy storage, among other applications.

The Ultra Mega Project deal exceeds $1.5 billion and includes financial incentives and support from Maharashtra. The offer letter presented by Maharashtra to Gogoro builds upon the previously announced Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two entities, which was unveiled at Davos in January 2023.

The Maharashtra government categorizes Ultra Mega Projects as significant strategic investments exceeding $500 million that usually result in government incentives to ensure successful project execution. Gogoro’s request for financial incentives was approved and endorsed by the Maharashtra state cabinet as the two parties expect to complete the agreement soon.

“As part of the project, Gogoro will establish its India vehicle, smart battery and battery swapping station manufacturing in Maharashtra and deploy their industry-leading smart battery infrastructure in the state, generating approximately 10,000 direct and indirect jobs,” said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The deployment is expected to accelerate job growth throughout the smart energy, electric vehicle, and sustainability value chain.
The Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, added, “We have provided Gogoro with the necessary financial and other key incentives to usher in a new paradigm shift in the way we will move people across metros and cities. The EV revolution is gripping the world and our state is not far behind in its early adoption. With this project, we anticipate creating a fertile ecosystem for local manufacturers who will avail the necessary tech transfer and help create world-class products for our citizens.”

Gogoro brings the experience of successful deployment of an open battery swapping network that supports multiple vehicle makers in Taiwan to Maharashtra.

In April 2023, the battery-swapping ecosystem provider made an entry into the Indian EV spectrum as it launched its battery-swapping platform and Smartscooters in Delhi NCR.

India is a latecomer to the EV market, with only around 0.1 per cent of total vehicles being electric. The scenario is bound to change in favour of EVs with the electric two-wheeler and three-wheeler market growing rapidly. The e2w segment is leading the Indian clean transportation drive as India registered 4.56 lakh units of E2W sales during the first half (H1) of FY2023.