JSW Cement places first commercial Ampstar order for 100 electric trucks

Order and route

JSW Greentech said JSW Cement ordered 100 Ampstar 4x2 55T electric prime movers for heavy-duty industrial haulage at its Vijaynagar site. The order is the first commercial sale of vehicles under the Ampstar brand, the company said. The trucks will move clinker and slag on a 330-km route between Nandyal and Vijaynagar, carrying an estimated 125,000 tonnes of cargo a month.

JSW Eco-Mobility will provide batteries under a Battery-as-a-Service arrangement and develop a corridor with four battery-swapping stations, the company said. Sumit Mittal, chief executive of JSW Greentech, said the company reached the milestone "in just over a month" from the brand's launch.

"With an integrated electric mobility solution backed by battery-swapping infrastructure, we aim to reduce our dependence on diesel, lower emissions and advance our sustainability objectives without compromising operational efficiency," said Narinder Kahlon, director for finance at JSW Cement.

The order is small next to JSW's own fleet. The group's steel, cement and port businesses run about 17,000 trucks, and Mittal has said there is a "high probability" of converting around 8,000 of them. The 100 trucks are a first step in that captive demand, not proof that outside fleets will pay. JSW Greentech also said its Ampstar 4x2 and 6x4 tractor trucks received certification under the Central Motor Vehicle Rules from the Automotive Research Association of India.

Plant and capacity

JSW Greentech launched Ampstar in September and has invested ₹2,500 crore in the first phase. Ampstar vehicles will be built at a 90-acre plant in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra, with annual capacity for 15,000 units: 10,000 buses and 5,000 trucks. Commercial production at the plant was scheduled to begin within 30 days of the September launch, the company said.

At full utilisation, JSW Greentech expects about ₹12,000 crore from vehicle sales, based on an average selling price of ₹80 lakh, with after-sales adding ₹2,000-3,000 crore, Mittal said. For the current financial year the target is 500 to 1,000 vehicles, or roughly 3% to 7% of plant capacity. Mittal expects 70-80% utilisation in three to four years.

Not every number at the launch matched. The Pioneer reported about ₹2,000 crore, while The Hindu and Autocar Professional reported ₹2,500 crore.

Captive demand and costs

Parth Jindal of JSW Group puts the group's own requirement at nearly 10,000 trucks a year. Outside the group, electric commercial vehicles remain small. They were 5.18% of India's CV market in August, according to FADA figures cited by Forbes India, which reported Tata Motors led retail with 30.11%, ahead of Euler Motors at 18.06% and Sany Heavy Industry India at 12.87%.

Price is the obstacle. A diesel truck costs about ₹25 lakh on average, against ₹80 lakh to ₹1 crore for a comparable electric model, Forbes India reported. Mittal estimates energy costs at about ₹40 a kilometre on diesel and about ₹10 on electric.

What happens next

JSW Greentech does not yet meet the localisation threshold for the Centre's ₹500-crore PM E-DRIVE incentive pool for electric trucks, Mittal said. He expects it to qualify in about six to nine months. Buses are already 70-75% localised. Trucks are targeted at 50% within six months and 75% within 9-12 months.

JSW Group has outlined an ambition to create capacity for 100,000 electric trucks by 2030, against 15,000 units at the first plant, Autocar Professional reported.