Ashok Leyland Inaugurates EV Facility In India

On its 70th Anniversary, Ashok Leyland inaugurated its electric vehicle facility in its Ennore plant. The facility is India's first integrated facility for design, prototyping, testing, process prototyping and solutions design. The in-house facilities include engineering, prototyping and testing for Motors, Battery Modules and Packs and a Power Electronics Lab. The facility is equipped with digital tools for manufacturing and field tracking. This centre, along with the eMobTech centre, located in IITM Research Park, will be generating and implementing all the Services and Solutions contracts that are related to eMobility, for Ashok Leyland.

Vinod K. Dasari, Managing Director, Ashok Leyland, said, "In our 70th year, we are laying the foundation for our future. The EV Centre in Ennore will give us the edge throughout the evolution of eMobility. Currently, we are the only OEM globally to offer different Energy Management strategies and an architecture which is modular. Our plan is to start working on new product platforms in EVs such as eLCV, Low Floor City Buses, Last Mile Connectivity and Power Solutions products. We have also launched a host of new Business Models including eMaaS (eMobility as a Service) and eMSol (eMobility as a Solution) which ensures that we are closer to our end customers and capture more value. The Government's eMobility vision is an opportunity for the country to save Forex and to reduce Oil dependence. For the industry and us, it is an opportunity to reduce total costs of ownership and, more importantly, be at the very cutting edge of technology for the first time."

Karthick Athmanathan, BU Head, EV's & eMobility, Ashok Leyland, said, that the company is working on multiple technologies and platforms which will help the company stay ahead in the commercial vehicle mobility space.

At present the facility has a capacity to take care of about 5000-10000 vehicles per annum, with different battery and charging options. The company will leverage start-ups in India as well as from abroad, to bring in innovative yet cost-effective solutions.