Automakers to invest $10 billion for enhancing EV manufacturing capacity

The capital expenditure will be allocated towards building green-field plants for EVs, better research and investment in battery plants, and support for grid charging infrastructure

In a bid to provide a stronger push to electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing in the country, Indian automakers are considering making investments of around $10 billion or Rs 80,000 crore, a report published by The Economic Times (ET) said. The investment will be made to build a robust infrastructure for the EV ecosystem.

The development has come at a time when EVs are gathering attraction around the world. The governments are also supporting the switch from pure internal combustion engines to battery-powered vehicles.

The capital expenditure will be allocated towards building green field plants for EVs, better research and investment in battery plants, and support grid charging infrastructure.

The plan is to create manufacturing capacity to build around two million EVs and scale it to 7.2-7.5 million units by 2030. Two-wheeler manufacturers are preparing to build a 15.5 million EV manufacturing capacity, ET reported. If successful, this will be 75 per cent of the installed capacity of internal combustion engine (ICE) powered two-wheelers.

The President of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers Association (Siam), Vinod Agrawal said that the investment to create EV manufacturing capacity is critical to making India a $5 trillion economy. So far, the government and the industry are working in cooperation with each other, the report quoted Agrawal.

Maruti Suzuki, India's biggest carmaker is planning to install a manufacturing capacity of around four million units. At present, Maruti Suzuki has a capacity of 2.5 million cars. Maruti Suzuki is expected to launch six electric vehicles by 2031, the company said at its annual earnings conference.

The company is likely to launch its first EV model in 2025, the ET report said. Mahindra and Tata Motors will make a capex of Rs 10,000 crore and Rs 15,000 crore respectively in the next 5-7 years. Hyundai is also planning to invest Rs 20,000 crore towards EV manufacturing.