According to people with firsthand knowledge of the conversations, the Indian conglomerate JSW Group is aggressively looking into cooperation with South Korea’s LG Energy Solution (LGES) to produce batteries in India. This action fits well with JSW’s ambitious goals to create a regional ecosystem for electric vehicles (EVs).
Senior LGES executives and JSW recently spoke in South Korea. According to JSW’s proposal, battery cells will be jointly produced in India, primarily for electric vehicles and energy storage systems. JSW and LGES have held off on making any official remarks about these continuing conversations.
JSW is not just talking about LGES in its conversations. The business is actively negotiating with other prominent battery producers, such as the Chinese company CATL and the enormous Japanese companies Panasonic and Toshiba. The goal is to establish a full local supply chain for EVs that includes essential parts like battery management systems, motors, and energy storage.
By the end of this decade, JSW wants to create a battery production facility with a 20 gigawatt-hour (GWh) capacity, according to a source familiar with the company’s electric vehicle plans. The phased expansion will be used to achieve this, with the first phase aiming to increase battery capacity by 8 GWh.
Sajjan Jindal, the chairman of JSW, has stated in the open that the business is ready to enter the EV industry. Initial talks with MG Motor of China have been suspended, but JSW is aggressively looking into the potential of obtaining a technology license from Leapmotor to produce EVs in India under its own brand.
over their participation in conversations with JSW over future partnerships in the production of battery cells, Panasonic and Toshiba have not yet made any official statements. Toshiba made it clear that, at this time, it cannot confirm such conversations, and CATL chose not to comment. JSW Group has been asked to disclose particular information about its needs for electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage by LG Energy Solution (LGES), a supplier of battery cells to well-known automakers including Tesla and General Motors.
Outlook for India’s EV Market
The electric vehicle (EV) market in India is expanding, with Tata Motors now controlling sales. However, less than 2% of all cars sold in India last year were electric automobiles. The Indian government, under the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hopes to increase the proportion of EV sales to 30% by 2030 in order to hasten the adoption of EVs. The government is providing significant incentives to businesses for domestic battery and EV component production in order to achieve this goal. In addition, there are plans to lower import duties on EVs in exchange for financial support for domestic production.
In talks with the government about the local production of electric vehicles and batteries, Tesla has expressed interest in the Indian market.
LGES’s Growth in India
India is the third-largest vehicle market in the world, and LG Energy Solution is constantly working to increase its presence there. The business launched an office in New Delhi earlier this year to demonstrate its dedication to expanding its automotive, mobility, and energy storage operations in the nation. Ola Electric and TVS Motor, two well-known Indian producers of electric scooters, already get imported battery cells from LGES, and additional companies are apparently in talks with the company.
These current conversations between JSW Group and several battery manufacturers have the potential to be extremely important in determining the future of the Indian EV market and its related supply chain as the country’s EV landscape continues to change.
