Ashok Leyland commences delivery of electric trucks to Billion Electric Mobility

Delivery of electric trucks: Hinduja Group flagship company Ashok Leyland on Monday began delivery of electric trucks to Billion Electric Mobility (Member of Group BillionE), a top official said on Monday. The city-based company had bagged a contract to supply 180 electric trucks to Group BillionE which would be operated in the Chennai-Bengaluru, Chennai-Vijayawada routes.

At a function held at the corporate office of the Ashok Leyland here, the first set of AVTR 55 tonne, BOSS 19 tonne, and BOSS 14 tonne electric trucks were flagged off by the Ashok Leyland MD and CEO Shenu Agarwal, Billion E-Mobility Founder and CEO Kartikey Hariyani in presence of Chief Technology Officer N Saravanan, Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicle President Sanjeev Kumar, among others.

"Ashok Leyland is proud of its partnership with BillionE Group as we commence deliveries of our AVTR 55Tonne Electric and BOSS ICV Electric trucks. We are equally proud that in both BOSS and AVTR electric platforms, we have packed the most advanced and premium features making these products more superior in performance." Ashok Leyland MD and CEO Shenu Agarwal said. While Ashok Leyland officials declined to comment on the value of the order bagged from Billion Electric Mobility, a company spokesperson said it would be around Rs 150 crore. "BOSS Electric is India's first and only electric truck in the ICV range and AVTR 55 Tonne electric is the first 4x2 tractor to be commercially offered by an Indian commercial vehicle manufacturer," Agarwal claimed.

Ashok Leyland remains committed to pushing the boundaries of innovation to lead the shift to green mobility, offering cutting-edge technologies and outstanding customer experience, he said. Later addressing reporters, Agarwal said the company has set up a flexible assembly line at its factory in Hosur to produce the electric trucks and also those trucks that would run on alternate fuels. Initial capacity of the plant in Hosur would be around 5,000 units a year. Billion E-Mobility Founder and CEO Kartikey Hariyani said the trucks with a single charge would be able to run for 225 km and would be operated on various routes including Bengaluru-Pune, Ahmedabad to Mumbai, routes.

"Customers (who will be operating in the trucks) will comprise those engaged in fast-moving consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals," he said. The delivery of trucks which commenced today are expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of the current financial year. To another query, Ashok Leyland Chief Technology Officer N Saravanan said that the company was developing trucks that would run on hydrogen as a fuel and the first product was expected to be rolled out in 18-24 months. On the proposal to set up a manufacturing facility in Lucknow, Agarwal clarified that the production plant will produce only electric buses initially and the first product was expected to be rolled out by the third quarter of next financial year (2025-26).

The AVTR 55 tonne electric and BOSS 19 tonne electric vehicles flagged off earlier in the day are designed to provide advanced performance, safety and efficiency. The battery packs are positioned at the frame level ensuring compatibility with commonly used trailers and superstructures, come with IP67 protection to safeguard against water and dust ingress, a company official said. The vehicles are also equipped with Advanced Driver Assist Systems for enhanced safety and they also feature dual-gun charging for faster recharging and are equipped with the Common Charging Standard 2(CCS2) feature, they added.