Ampere Electric to build scooter plant in Tamil Nadu
Indian electric scooter manufacturer Ampere Electric, a subsidiary of Greaves Cotton, announced it will set up a plant in Ranipet, Tamil Nadu, India. The facility to manufacture battery-electric scooters is planned to be operational by the end of this year.
The new electric scooter factory will stand on an area over 1.4 million square feet. The plan is to create one of the largest e-mobility manufacturing plants in the country, which is capable of manufacturing 100,000 units in its first year of operation. Ampere clearly intends to scale up production from there and states a number of 1 million units per year as their eventual target. In order to set this up, the company is prepared to invest Rs 700 crore (approx. $96 million) over a period of 10 years. The choice to build in Tamil Nadu is linked to the recent decision by the state already known for automotive manufacturing to completely exempt battery-electric vehicles from the motor vehicle tax for a period of two years, until December 2022.
Nagesh Basavanhalli, Group CEO and MD of Greaves Cotton said: “This is a historic milestone for Greaves Cotton, as we outline our investment to transform the clean mobility landscape in India. This move aligns with our mission of decarbonizing last mile transportation for a cleaner planet and uninterrupted mobility.” Ampere COO Roy Kurian further added that the company is planning to increase “our offerings to an ever increasing customer base not just in India but also in other parts of the world”.
The new investment plans come from the fresh wind the company found last year as an emerging e-mobility company in the Indian market. Over the third quarter of 2020, Ampere Electric noted a 35 per cent growth in sales volumes “amidst a challenging business environment triggered by the Covid pandemic”. Currently, the company has a base of over 500 dealerships in its network, serving around 75,000 private customers and more than 50 B2B customers. This makes Ampere rightfully describe itself as one of the fastest-growing EV brands in India.
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