JSW bets Rs 2,000 crore on electric trucks and buses with AMPSTAR

The JSW Group on Tuesday entered one of the toughest corners of Indian manufacturing — commercial vehicles — launching AMPSTAR, the electric bus and truck brand of JSW Greentech Limited. The first vehicles go on sale within weeks.

Chairman Sajjan Jindal is committing about `2,000 crore to the business, is open to acquisitions to reach the top two or three of India’s commercial vehicle industry, and is building towards an electric truck fleet of about one lakh vehicles by 2030. He framed the entry as “an act of nation-building — moving India’s people and goods on power generated within India, rather than fuel sourced from outside,” noting India’s crude import bill of over $200 billion and warning that diesel prices could rise given the geopolitical situation.

The business starts inside the group. “Our plan is initially to provide both swappable and fixed batteries. Initially we will operate these electric trucks and buses for our own (JSW Group) needs and on a point-to-point basis — for example the 290 kilometre run from Krishnapatnam Port to our JSW Steel plant in Vijayanagara,” Parth Jindal told The Pioneer.

That conviction came from a small trial: electric trucks run for JSW Cement cut costs by `115 a tonne. “When margins on cement are just around `1,000 a tonne, that made a massive difference,” Parth Jindal said. Fixed, closed-loop routes make charging predictable and the economics workable despite sticker prices well above diesel equivalents.

The macro case is twofold. Citing Nitin Gadkari, Parth Jindal said India is at 1.2 buses per 100 population and must triple that for viable intra-city and inter-city transport. And commercial vehicles account for 40 per cent of India’s diesel consumption, making their electrification vital for energy security.

After 16 months of listening to operators and passengers, JSW settled on a “full-stack” model bundling charging, operating solutions, financing and after-sales support with the vehicle, offering 150 kW to 500 kW configurations and a choice of purchase, leasing or Battery as a Service . Energy strategy is hedged across fast charging and swapping, with a claimed seven-minute swap. Two packs come first—282 kWh in fixed and swappable form, and a 400 kWh fixed unit—for 140-200 km of range.

CEO Sumit Mittal said buses will span 7 to 18 metres across staff, city, intercity and school use, while trucks begin with a 55-tonne tractor-trailer, shown in Mumbai, before tippers and dumpers follow.
Production runs from a 90-acre integrated plant at AURIC, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, with capacity for 10,000 buses and 5,000 trucks a year and commercial output expected within 30 days. 
Jindal calls the plant an “entry strategy,” not the destination. The real test begins outside JSW’s own gates, where margin-sensitive fleet operators must accept a higher price for lower running costs. As the chairman conceded, “the economics have to make the case — not sentiment.”