Maruti Suzuki reveals details about its electric car plans for India

Recently, we reported that the EV variant of the next-gen WagonR will become the first-ever electric car from Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL). Now, it has come to light that Suzuki Motor Corp, the parent company of MSIL, won’t stop at the launch of the new Maruti WagonR EV. Instead, it has earmarked USD 14.5 million for the development of the EV technology. This technology will be used for a range of upcoming electric cars from the Japanese manufacturer.

The company plans to make India a manufacturing hub for its upcoming electric cars. It plans to have a production capacity of 35,000 units a year. It’s noteworthy here that most major car manufacturers in India have already started working on an electric car strategy. Companies like Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra have already bagged a contract to supply electric vehicles to the Indian Government. These cars are also being manufactured for the export markets. In comparison, Suzuki is in early stages of the electric car development. However, it plans to set up a complete ecosystem for its EV business before Maruti starts selling the electric cars in the country. Actually, there are good chances of Maruti Suzuki becoming the first car manufacturer to produce electric cars with locally-sourced components.

Like we’ve been saying, Suzuki and Toyota have formed a partnership that will see the former benefitting from the latter’s prowess with electric powertrains. Hence, Suzuki will source much of its electric car technology from Toyota Motor Corp and Denso Corp. The partners will develop an ultra-high-efficiency powertrain for India and other global markets. Suzuki has also joined hands with Denso and Toshiba for setting up a lithium-ion battery production facility in Gujarat. The production of the upcoming Maruti electric cars will also take place in Gujarat. Earlier this year, Kenichi Ayukawa, Managing Director, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, said that his company also plans to install electric car charging stations in collaboration with its dealers and other business partners.

News source – Livemint