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.
In January 2023, the three parties signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The Memorandum of Understanding calls for the installation of battery swapping stations and smart charging stations to boost the expansion of electric vehicles in the state, notably two- and three-wheelers.
When the Memorandum of Understanding was formally announced in January 2023, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stated that 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.”
Ranjit Shelke, Head of Corporate Strategy and Business Head EV at Belrise Industries, said, “We are no longer pursuing the battery swapping plans. 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.”
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.
According to the Gogoro spokesperson, the initial announcement was a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding.
Gogoro spokesperson further added “Horace and Shrikant Badve, the founder of Belrise, remain friends and continue to discuss different matters, including future collaboration. Belrise is currently a key supplier for Gogoro Crossover.”
The battery swapping policy, which Niti Aayog prepared and Nirmala Sitharaman proposed in the 2022 Union budget, has not taken effect due to industry opposition to battery standardisation and other interoperability criteria included in the draft scheme.
Except for Honda and Gogoro, Indian OEMs and battery makers, as well as the majority of swapping players, have opposed the scheme’s main interoperability proposal because it would have required them to modify not only their existing infrastructure but also 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.