AVERA, an electric vehicle company based in Vijayawada, has announced a ₹100-crore expansion plan to increase the production capacity to one lakh vehicles a year from the present base of 25,000 vehicles.

The new facility, which will come up at the company’s 63-acre campus at Nunna village near Vijayawada, will cater to exports. The company sold 4,500 vehicles in the domestic market and exported 2,000 vehicles to Spain and Bulgaria. The company presently has three varients of RETROSA two-wheelers.

“We are looking at expanding to Australia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka this year. Pilots have started in Vietnam and Sri Lanka. We are expecting a pilot launch in Australia in the next few weeks,” Venkata Ramana, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AVERA AI Mobility Private Limited, told businessline.

“We have invested ₹140 crore over the last nine years, raising funds from friends and family members. Now we are planning to raise funds to support our expansion plans and talks are at an advanced stage for stake sale for a strategic investor,” he said.

The company is looking at diluting up to 25 per cent in the EV startup. “Part of the proceeds will go for the expansion plans,” he said.

He said he recently met representatives from the Australia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Department (DFAT), as part of the company’s expansion plans in the country.

“The DFAT team welcomed AVERA and expressed their support for Indian manufacturers venturing into the Australian market. Discussions centred around sustainable business models, incorporating local components and navigating the intricacies of Australian regulations,” he said.

The DFAT team pledged to extend comprehensive support to AVERA, including research collaboration with universities, and facilitating employee exchange programs.

“We are planning to start the pilot run in Ausutralia in November. We also have plans to set up an assembling facility in Ausutralia to meet the local demand,” he said.

Initial roadblocks surmounted

The startup, whose products were compliant to the European standards, started commercial launch in 2019 and started exporting to Spain and Bulgaria. It, however, faced a road bump as the pandemic hit the world and adversely impacting its export prospects.

“We have turned the challenge into an opportunity and we offered EV two-wheelers to the Andhra Pradesh Government to supply medicines and vaccines,” he said.

The company, which employs 73 people, sources all its power needs from its solar plant with a capacity of 500 kWh. It is planning to expand the capacity keeping in view the demand from the capacity expansion.