Amara Raja Eyes Passenger EV Battery Pack Plant

Amara Raja is evaluating a dedicated battery pack manufacturing facility for passenger electric vehicles after entering discussions with multiple automakers, marking a significant expansion of its EV ambitions beyond its existing focus on two- and three-wheelers.

The company said a dedicated passenger vehicle battery pack plant was not part of its original Phase 1 blueprint for the Amara Raja Giga Corridor in Telangana. However, ongoing discussions with passenger vehicle manufacturers have prompted it to evaluate such a facility. It added that customer nominations could potentially materialise during the current financial year, although discussions are yet to be concluded.

The proposed facility would complement the company’s existing battery pack assembly operations, which currently form the backbone of its lithium-ion business. Battery packs are expected to continue contributing the larger share of revenues in the near term as domestic cell manufacturing gradually ramps up.

Amara Raja reiterated that its first lithium-ion cell manufacturing plant, with an initial capacity of 2 GWh, remains on track for commissioning around the middle of next year. The facility has been designed for eventual expansion to 6 GWh, while the company continues to target 16 GWh of manufacturing capacity under its commitment to the Telangana government. It added that the campus has the infrastructure to support significantly higher capacity in the future, subject to market demand.

The initial cell production programme will focus on nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) chemistry, reflecting current demand from the electric two-wheeler segment. However, the company expects most future capacity additions to be based on lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry as passenger vehicle manufacturers increasingly shift towards the technology. It added that future production lines would remain flexible enough to accommodate newer chemistries, including sodium-ion, if commercial demand emerges.

The company also acknowledged that battery cells manufactured in India are likely to remain more expensive than Chinese imports in the initial years, making localisation dependent on scale, a stronger domestic battery materials ecosystem and supportive policy measures.

As part of its localisation strategy, every new cell chemistry will first be validated at its newly inaugurated Customer Qualification Plant before moving to gigafactory-scale production. The pilot-scale approach is aimed at reducing manufacturing defects and scrap rates before mass production, avoiding the costly learning curve experienced by several overseas battery manufacturers.