🔋India Makes Room for Chinese Batteries: Powering the EV Future
Imagine an Indian automaker hungry for an electric future—yet the heart of an EV, its battery, is mostly made in China. That’s the reality: 60–75% of lithium cell packs come from Chinese suppliers, and India imports almost all high-value battery cells today.
Now, a fresh chapter- Ashok Leyland recently struck a long-term deal with China’s CALB, aiming to learn the ropes—first by importing cells, then by building up Indian assembly and, finally, learning to make those cells at home.
Why partner with a sometimes-rival? Because without Chinese know-how, Indian EV ambitions would stall: supply shortages, expensive imports, and slow rollouts. The government sees this partnership as a “technology apprenticeship”—learning battery management, software, and pack integration directly from the world’s leader.
CALB, faced with overcapacity in China, gets a new growth market, Ashok Leyland fills its biggest EV gap. Over ₹5,000 crore will be invested as India aims to become a low-cost producer longer-term. But there’s a risk- geopolitics can always barge in and darken a sunny deal.
Meanwhile, EV stocks charged by this battery demand include:
Amara Raja Batteries