Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 22 : JSW MG Motor India is making an aggressive push into the electric commercial vehicle (ECV) sector, projecting that nearly a third of the nation’s commercial fleet could rapidly go green.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the AMPSTAR launch during the JSW Greentech event in Mumbai on Tuesday, Parth Jindal, MD, JSW MG Motor India, outlined an ambitious roadmap for the segment. Jindal also emphasised that the market opportunity is expanding rapidly.
"We believe that a large chunk of this, close to 20-30 per cent of this demand, can move to electric, and that's exactly the kind of demand we are forecasting," Jindal stated.
"So we believe that the market size can be anywhere between 75,000 to 100,000 units, and our capacity is only 15,000, of which the JSW group itself, amongst our steel business, our power business, our cement business, we have a huge requirement. So I think the factory is going to be busy for some time."
He added that the company is aligning its strategy across both public and private sectors while relying heavily on captive demand to capture this opportunity.
"I think we are going to participate in the government tenders when it comes to e-buses but on the private sector for the trucks," Jindal explained. "And like I said, the JSW group itself has a demand of nearly 10,000 electric trucks every year. So we have a huge demand."
Backing this vision is a massive capital outlay. "We have invested 2,500 crores so far in the business to get to 15,000 units and as soon as our capacity utilisation starts crossing 70 per cent, we can double the capacity at Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar," Jindal revealed, establishing clear triggers for the company's manufacturing expansion.
To ease adoption friction for fleet operators, the group is rolling out comprehensive commercial arrangements. "We have a lot of solutions. We are going to launch that in times to come," Jindal noted regarding their Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) framework.
"There is a battery swapping solution. There is a battery charging solution. So there are a lot of solutions. You can lease the battery. You can lease the vehicle. You can pay per ton. You can pay per person per kilometre on the bus. So there are various solutions that we will provide our customers."
On the supply chain front, the company has achieved substantial domestic integration. "So the cell, which is the main ingredient that goes into the battery, that is something that we are all as a country working on," Jindal pointed out. "But apart from the cell, everything else can be localised, and both the truck and the bus is already fully local apart from the cell."
Production will be anchored at the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar facility in Maharashtra. Outlining the operational setup, Jindal shared, "In phase 1, we can make 15,000 units which is completely fungible and flexible between trucks and buses."
When asked about the ongoing negotiations regarding the proposed MoU with Skoda Auto Volkswagen India, Jindal offered a curt response: "Sorry, no comment."
During his key address at the launch of Ampstar — the JSW Greentech ECV brand launch — Parth Jindal emphasised the broader vision behind the commercial fleet transition, pointing out that commercial vehicles account for 40 per cent of India's vehicular pollution and oil imports despite comprising only 4 per cent of total road traffic.
He noted that JSW Greentech aims to act as a catalyst in shifting trucks and buses to electric, mirroring the rapid adoption seen in passenger and two-wheeler segments.