Omega Seiki teams up with Brandwin to manufacture electric trucks in Bangladesh

Delhi-based electric vehicle maker Omega Seiki Mobility has recently signed a deal with Bangladesh's conglomerate Brandwin Group to jointly invest $10 million for setting up an electric truck manufacturing facility near Dhaka.

This is the second joint venture of the emerging Indian electric vehicle maker in Bangladesh with its first joint venture factory with Nitol-Niloy Group getting ready for electric three-wheeler production in the country within a few months.

Ali Haider Ratan, managing director of the Brandwin Group who has businesses in infrastructure, real estate, fast-moving consumer goods and ICT, told The Business Standard that the two groups are likely to have almost equal stakes in the joint venture and they have two industrial plots ready at the north of the capital.

"Starting marketing with imported units of M1KA e-trucks from May, We will start local assembling of the commercial vehicle in mid-2024," he said adding that gradually the local plant would add more value here.

We are also working on the development of an EV ecosystem here that will include a nationwide charging network for the trucks that runs up to 180 kilometres per full charge of the set of batteries. 

The 1-tonne and 3-tonne models of M1KA would be a success in the Bangladesh Market, he believes while the Indian company expected to start with around 500 units of annual sales in Bangladesh. 

Nitol-Niloy Group Chairman Abdul Matlub Ahmad told TBS his joint venture factory with the OSM is at Mouchak, Gazipur and they are waiting for the machinery to be imported and installed in a few months to start assembling Seiki branded electric three-wheelers that run over a hundred kilometres per charge. 

Already investing Tk35 crore in the project, he now eyes much bigger investments in the coming years for local value addition in the electric vehicles. 

"My Chinese partners are in Bangladesh right now for a JV to manufacture lithium-ion batteries here," he said adding that even if only the Lithium-ion batteries can be sourced locally local value addition would be 40%, while bodybuilding, tyres, seats and glasses, accessories and many more parts can be locally sourced.

"At first we will start with assembling, and in two years we are planning to locally add the maximum value we can," he said. 

But, the problems regarding registration, unbearable duty structure and no incentive for EV are still there, he said. 

"In other countries, EV buyers are getting state incentives as they prefer going green and we are yet to think about it," he added. 

Starting in 2018, Omega Seiki Mobility launched its first electric cargo three-wheeler RAGE+ in 2020 and eying the rapidly growing smart logistics ecosystem it keeps expanding its electric cargo vehicle portfolio that includes all – two-wheelers, three-wheelers and trucks with different sizes and capacities.

The company, gaining technological know-how, has already had its third manufacturing plant in different parts of India.