Reliance Infrastructure, a unit of Anil Ambani's Reliance Group, has appointed external consultants to conduct a “cost feasibility” study for setting up a new project.
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Reliance Infrastructure, a unit of Anil Ambani's Reliance Group, has hired external consultants to carry out a “cost feasibility” study for setting up an EV plant. It will have an initial capacity of about 250,000 vehicles per year, which will be scaled up to 750,000 in a few years.
India's Reliance Infrastructure is considering a plan to make electric cars and batteries, and has hired a former Indian executive from China's BYD Co to advise on its plans, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The company, part of Anil Ambani's Reliance Group, has hired external consultants to carry out a “cost feasibility” study for setting up the EV plant, which will have an initial capacity of about 250,000 vehicles per year, to be scaled up to 750,000 in a few years, the first source said.
The company is also looking at the feasibility of building a battery plant starting with a 10 gigawatt-hour (GWh) capacity and scaling it up to 75 GWh over a decade, the source said.
Reliance Infrastructure did not respond to a request for comment on its plans, which are being reported for the first time. The company's shares were down 0.2 percent ahead of the Reuters report, but closed with a gain of about 2% after it was published. Former BYD executive Sanjay Gopalakrishnan, who has joined as a consultant to advise on the EV project, did not respond to a request for comment.
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Anil Ambani is the younger brother of Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest man and head of Reliance Industries, which has interests ranging from oil and gas to telecoms and retail. The brothers split the family business in 2005.
Mukesh's company is already working to make batteries locally and this week won a bid to receive government incentives for 10 gigawatt hours of battery cell production.
If Anil's group decides to go ahead with its plans, the two brothers will enter a market where electric vehicles have a limited presence but are growing rapidly.
Electric models accounted for less than 2 percent of the 4.2 million cars sold in India last year, but the government wants to raise that to 30% by 2030. It has budgeted more than $5 billion in incentives for companies that locally make electric vehicles and their components, including batteries.
Battery manufacturing is yet to take off in India, but some local manufacturers such as Exide and Amara Raja have tied up with Chinese companies for technology to manufacture lithium-ion battery cells in the country.
Reliance Infrastructure is also looking for partners, including Chinese companies, and aims to finalise its plans within a few months, the first source said.
India's Tata Motors is the country's biggest EV player, with a market share of about 70%, while rivals such as SAIC's MG Motor and BYD are catching up fast. Overall, auto market leaders Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor plan to launch EVs in 2025.
Gopalakrishnan retired this year after serving at BYD for over two decades. He led and established BYD's electric passenger vehicle business in India, launching three electric vehicles and setting up a dealership network.
Government records reviewed by Reuters showed Reliance Infrastructure formed two new wholly-owned subsidiaries related to automobiles in June.
One of these is named Reliance EV Private Limited, whose “main object” is to “manufacture, deal in and sell all types of vehicles and components for transport and transportation using any kind of fuel”. Reliance Infrastructure has struggled with high debt levels and cash flow issues in recent years. It is unclear how the EV project will be financed.
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First Publication Date: 07 September 2024, 08:04 AM IST