Gopalakrishnan retired from BYD this year after spending more than two years there, establishing BYD’s business in India, launching three electric vehicles and setting up a dealer network.
India’s Reliance Infrastructure is considering plans to make electric cars and batteries, and has hired a former Indian executive from China’s BYD Co to advise it on its plans, two sources briefed on the matter told Reuters.
The company, part of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group, has hired outside consultants to conduct a “cost feasibility” study for setting up an electric vehicle plant with an initial capacity of around 250,000 vehicles a year, to be expanded to 750,000 in a few years, the first source said.
The feasibility of building a battery plant starting with 10 gigawatt hours (GWh) of capacity and scaling up to 75 GWh within a decade is also being studied, the source added.
Reliance Infrastructure did not respond to a request for comment on its plans, which are being published for the first time. The company’s shares, which had been down 0.2% before the Reuters report, closed nearly 2% higher after its publication.
Former BYD executive Sanjay Gopalakrishnan, who joined as a consultant to advise on the EV project, did not respond to a request for comment.
Anil Ambani is the younger brother of Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man and head of Reliance Industries, which has interests spanning oil and gas to telecoms and retail. The brothers split the family business in 2005.
Mukesh’s company is already working to manufacture batteries locally and this week won a tender to receive government incentives for the production of 10 GWh of battery cells.
If Anil’s group decides to go ahead with its plans, the brothers will be entering a market where electric vehicles have a limited presence but are growing rapidly.
Electric models accounted for less than 2% of the 4.2 million cars sold in India last year, but the government wants to increase that share to 30% by 2030. It has budgeted more than $5 billion in incentives for companies that locally manufacture 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 partnered with Chinese players to source 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 largest EV maker, with a nearly 70% market share, and rivals such as SAIC’s MG Motor and BYD are gaining ground. Market leaders Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor plan to launch EVs by 2025.
Gopalakrishnan retired from BYD this year after spending more than two years there, leading and establishing BYD’s passenger electric vehicle business in India, launching three electric vehicles and setting up a dealer network.
Government records reviewed by Reuters show Reliance Infrastructure formed two new wholly-owned auto-related subsidiaries in June.
One of them is called Reliance EV Private Ltd, whose “primary objective” is to “manufacture, market, in vehicles of all types and components for transportation and transfer using any type of fuel.”
In recent years, Reliance Infrastructure has been grappling with high debt levels and cash flow issues. It is unclear how the electric vehicle project will be funded.
First published: September 6, 2024 | 15:48 IS
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