MUMBAI: Sajjan Jindal’s JSW Greentech is entering the crowded commercial vehicles business with electric trucks, hoping to not just create space for itself but also inject momentum into non-diesel space with ambition to sell one lakh units by 2030. While the plant, which will be operational soon, will have a capacity to produce around 15,000 electric buses and trucks annually, this year, it is expecting to notch up sales of around 3,000 electric trucks in a market that saw the industry selling 800 units last year. Some part of the demand may come from the JSW group itself, which uses around 17,000 trucks.The vehicles, which will sell under the AMPSTAR brand, add to JSW’s auto portfolio that includes a joint venture with MG Motors, its own plans for JSW Motors and talks for buying into Skoda-VW in India.Jindal said the company is trying to drive action in the electric trucks business but is also conscious of the risks involved. “There will be challenges. Once we jump into the ocean, we will try to swim,” he said, adding that the focus is on creating indigenous capabilities with cells being an area of imports from China. He added that R&D is a focus area and the company is hopeful of achieving a breakthrough in cells over the next few years. “Several Indian groups are working on it. In the next five to seven years, there will be some reverse engineering. I am being very practical: let’s first catch up with what is happening in China and then we will try for some breakthrough.”
