Gogoro, Belrise to set up battery swapping infrastructure in Maharashtra

The Indian state of Maharashtra has entered into a strategic energy partnership with Gogoro and Belrise Industries to create a battery swapping infrastructure.

The 50-50 partnership will invest around $2.5 billion over eight years to construct smart energy infrastructure across Maharashtra.

The partnership also anticipates to encourage electric vehicle production and assembly in the state.

Devendra Fadnavis — Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister said: “We are partnering with Gogoro and Belrise to deploy the world’s largest and most innovative smart energy infrastructure to utilize battery swapping for solving the unique and distributed energy challenges we face daily.

“This project will enable new alternatives to the fossil fuels solutions many of our residents use today.”

Gogoro, Belrise to set up $2.5bn battery swapping infrastructure in Maharashtra. Image courtesy of Gogoro.

The arrangement of the battery swapping infrastructure in Maharashtra will also focus on mobility sharing, smart agriculture, demand response services, and distributed energy storage, among other applications.

Horace Luke — Gogoro founder and CEO said: “Together, the State of Maharashtra, Belrise Industries and Gogoro plan to shift energy usage and establish this new sustainable economy that will encourage jobs creation, establish new technical and sustainable industrial capabilities, and ultimately increase state exports.”

The battery swapping infrastructure, which is likely to be deployed across Maharashtra from 2023 onwards, will leverage Gogoro’s smart energy ecosystem, which includes smart battery stations, swapping technologies, and network management solutions.

Shrikant Badve — Belrise Industries Managing Director said: “Today we are partnering with Gogoro, a global innovation leader in smart sustainable energy and India’s most industrious state of Maharashtra to deploy the largest portable battery swapping infrastructure of its kind to enable a new generation of products and services that Maharashtra’s residents can embrace.”

The non-binding agreement was signed at the Maharashtra pavilion, World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Maharashtra with a gross domestic product of over $450 billion, accounts for 16% of India’s industrial production.

Founded in 2011, Gogoro is a Taiwanese battery-swapping refueling platform for electric two-wheel scooters, mopeds, and motorcycles.

Belrise Group with 29 facilities across India, manufactures automotive components for the 2-wheeler, 3-wheeler, and 4-wheeler passenger, and commercial vehicle sectors.