Pune-based Belrise Industries (formerly Badwe Engineering) has abandoned its plans to invest $2.5 billion as part of the tripartite agreement with the Maharashtra government and Taiwanese firm Gogoro to build a battery-swapping infrastructure.
The three parties had signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) in January 2023, at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The MoU called for the establishment of battery swapping stations and smart charging stations to promote the growth of electric vehicles in the state, particularly two-wheelers and three-wheelers.
When the MoU was formally announced in January 2023, the Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said the state is partnering with Gogoro and Belrise to deploy the world’s largest battery swapping network “as a historic moment to emerge as the world’s largest green partnership of its kind.”
“We are no longer pursuing the battery swapping plans,” Ranjit Shelke, Head of Corporate Strategy and Business Head EV at Belrise Industries, told Autocar Professional on the sidelines of the CII Next Gen Mobility Show 2023.
The lack of standardisation of batteries and connectors in the existing environment has rendered the project unviable, limiting interoperability between various operators to maximise usage of the swapping stations, Shelke added.
This, he clarified, will not affect the company’s manufacturing agreement with Gogoro to produce two-wheelers for the latter. “There have been no changes to this aspect of the relationship,” the Belrise company representative said.
Autocar Professional reached out to Gogoro to which their spokesperson clarified that “the offer letter from Maharashtra has moved forward without the inclusion of Belrise.”
According to the Gogoro spokesperson, the initial announcement was a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding.
“Horace and Shrikant Badve, the founder of Belrise, remain friends and continue to discuss different matters, including future collaboration”, the Gogoro spokesperson further added.
“Belrise is currently a key supplier for Gogoro Crossover,” the Gogoro company person stated.
The battery swapping policy, which Niti Aayog had drafted and was announced in the 2022 Union budget by Nirmala Sitharaman, has not come into effect on the back of industry’s opposition to battery standardisation and other interoperability standards outlined in the draft scheme.
Indian OEMs and battery makers and a majority of the swapping players save Honda and Gogoro, have opposed the scheme’s main interoperability proposal because it would have required them to modify not only their existing infrastructure but also the production-ready prototypes to meet the new standardised norms.
Belrise’s Shelke explained they exited this space as the “project was not getting favourable response from the industry”.
“Gogoro has had many discussions with the Indian Government on the subject of standardisation in safety. Ongoing conversation and feedback from different government officials is in line with Gogoro’s vision and technology,” a Gogoro spokesperson clarified.
The Nasdaq-listed firm’s India Operations has announced it has immediate plans to start its swapping network in Delhi and Goa.
Gogoro plans to expand to Mumbai, Pune, and Maharashtra in the first half of 2024.
However, the company has not clarified how many stations it plans to install in Maharashtra or pan India.