(Reuters) -Automaker Ashok Leyland, India’s third-largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles, said on Monday it will invest more than 50 billion rupees ($571.4 million) in domestic EV battery production.
The investment will be spread over the next 7-10 years, it said. The company plans to supply the batteries to its EV unit, called Switch, as well to as other automakers and for energy storage purposes.
Ashok Leyland will also partner with China’s CALB, one of the world’s top EV battery makers, for the battery production venture. CALB supplies EV batteries for cars, commercial vehicles, and energy storage.
With this, the automaker joins the likes of Tata Motors and Ola Electric that also plan to produce EV cells and batteries locally, along with legacy battery makers Exide and Amara Raja.
Most Indian EV makers import cells from China and South Korea, rather than making them domestically.
An EV battery typically forms up to 40% of the cost of green vehicles and localising the production can help bring down costs, some automakers have said.
($1 = 87.5060 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Sonia Cheema)
