Maharashtra's Ultra Mega Project Offer
Outlines an Eight Year Phase 1 Investment Plan that Includes More
Than $500 Million Investment in
Manufacturing and $1 Billion in Smart
Battery Infrastructure Deployment by Gogoro supported by Financial
Incentives and Reimbursements by the State of Maharashtra.
The Project Would be One of the Largest EV
Investments in India's History
and Follows an MOU Announcement at Davos in January
2023.
MUMBAI,
India, June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Indian
State of Maharashtra and Gogoro Inc. (Nasdaq: GGR), a global
technology leader in battery swapping ecosystems that enable
sustainable mobility solutions for cities, today announced that the
Maharashtra government had presented Gogoro with an offer letter to
enter into an 'Ultra Mega Project' agreement to manufacture
vehicles, smart battery packs and battery swap stations, and deploy
an open and accessible battery swapping infrastructure in the State
beginning in late 20231. The announcement was
made, at a Maharashtra's State Government press conference, by
Chief Minister Shri. Eknath
Shinde.
The proposed Ultra Mega Project deal would exceed $1.5 billion and include financial incentives and
support from Maharashtra. The offer letter follows a MOU between
Maharashtra and Gogoro that was previously announced at
Davos in January 2023.
The Maharashtra government categorizes Ultra Mega Projects
as significant strategic investments exceeding $500 million that usually result in government
incentives to ensure successful project execution. Gogoro's request
for financial incentives was approved and endorsed by the
Maharashtra state cabinet and the two parties expect to complete
the agreement soon.
"As the leading State in India
for electric vehicles, Maharashtra is demonstrating our strong
commitment towards sustainable transportation for all. We are
creating a smart battery ecosystem with Gogoro, a leader in
sustainable vehicles and electric fuel technologies. As part of the
project, Gogoro will establish its India vehicle, smart battery and battery
swapping station manufacturing in Maharashtra and deploy their
industry leading smart battery infrastructure in the state,
generating approximately 10,000 direct and indirect jobs," said
Hon. Chief Minister Shri. Eknath
Shinde.
"In line with the vision set by our Hon Prime Minister Shri.
Narendra Modi, Maharashtra is fully
committed to help build a green and sustainable future for our
state. I am delighted to announce that today we approved an ultra
mega project with Gogoro, a Nasdaq listed, global two-wheel EV
company," said Devendra Fadnavis, The Deputy Chief Minister of
Maharashtra. "Gogoro aims to produce two-wheel EV's that
utilize its open and accessible battery swap technology which is
absolutely state of the art. We have provided Gogoro with the
necessary financial and other key incentives to usher in a new
paradigm shift in the way we will move people across metros and
cities. The EV revolution is gripping the world and our state is
not far behind in its early adoption. With this project we
anticipate creating a fertile ecosystem for local manufacturers who
will avail the necessary tech transfer and help create world class
products for our citizens."
Gogoro plans to build a smart energy infrastructure in
Maharashtra that is open and accessible and establishes battery
swapping and smart battery stations as a leading source for
mobility and energy storage. The deployment is also expected to
accelerate job growth throughout the smart energy, electric
vehicle, and sustainability value chain. Gogoro is expected to lead
the increase of foreign direct investment into the state of
Maharashtra in both supply chain capabilities and smart battery
infrastructure.
"Building on Gogoro's successful deployment of an open battery
swapping network that supports multiple vehicle makers in
Taiwan, we plan to proceed in
partnership with the Maharashtra government to bring Gogoro
vehicles, smart batteries and swap stations to India starting with the state of Maharashtra.
We are focused on creating a domestic supplier ecosystem that
allows for domestic growth and foreign market expansion," said
Horace Luke, founder, and CEO of
Gogoro. "It is essential that we transform industries and
infrastructure to successfully enter a new era of clean, connected
mobility. We are excited to be partnering with the Maharashtra
government in its vision to transform urban transportation and
provide a better path forward for its residents and
businesses."
The battery swapping infrastructure expects to begin deploying
across Maharashtra in late 2023 which will leverage Gogoro's smart
energy ecosystem including smart battery stations, swapping
technologies, network management solutions, and will provide
numerous innovations to the State, contributing in the areas of
smart city design and development, energy storage stations &
systems, smart mobility sharing, smart electric vehicles, demand
response services and distributed energy storage, among other
applications.
With more than 120 million residents, Maharashtra is
India's largest economy and
industrialized State with a gross domestic product of more than
US$450 billion that accounts for
16-percent of India's industrial
output.
Cautionary Statement
Finalization and implementation
of the Proposed Ultra Mega Project Investment Plan is subject to,
among other things, the execution of mutually agreeable definitive
agreement(s), completion of due diligence, procurement of necessary
funding, approval by the board of directors of Gogoro, and
obtaining governmental approvals that may be required in the State
of Maharashtra or elsewhere in India and Taiwan where relevant. Although both parties
are actively working to finalize the agreement, there can be no
assurance that a definitive agreement will be entered into, the
required approval will be obtained or that the Proposed Ultra Mega
Project Investment Plan will be implemented or consummated on the
terms set forth herein or at all.
About The State of Maharashtra
Maharashtra is one of
the 28 states within the Republic of India. Maharashtra is known as India's growth engine due to its large
contribution to India's GDP. It is
also nationally recognized as the most advanced in terms of
manufacturing and services sector. Maharashtra has
consistently topped India's
ranking in terms of FDI received. Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra is a global
world class city.
https://maharashtra.gov.in/1125/Home
About Gogoro
Founded in 2011 to rethink urban energy
and inspire the world to move through cities in smarter and more
sustainable ways, Gogoro leverages the power of innovation to
change the way urban energy is distributed and consumed. Gogoro
Network is a new generation of distributed smart energy
infrastructure that is optimized for swappable battery refueling
and architected for intelligent bidirectional demand response and
energy storage that is a key building block of a smart grid. Gogoro
has quickly become an innovation leader in battery swapping, energy
storage, connected vehicles, electric propulsion systems, smart
battery design, and advanced cloud services that utilize artificial
intelligence to manage battery availability and safety. The
challenge is massive, but the opportunity to disrupt the status
quo, establish new standards, and achieve new levels of sustainable
growth in densely populated cities is even greater. For more
information, visit www.gogoro.com/news and follow Gogoro on
Twitter: @wearegogoro.
Forward Looking Statements
This communication contains
forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward looking
statements generally relate to future events or Gogoro's future
financial or operating performance. In some cases, you can identify
forward looking statements because they contain words such as
"may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "going
to," "could," "intends," "target," "projects," "contemplates,"
"believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential" or "continue" or
the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions
that concern Gogoro's expectations, strategy, priorities, plans or
intentions. Forward-looking statements in this communication
include, but are not limited to, the announcement of the
cooperation between Gogoro and the government of Maharashtra (the
"cooperation"), including the ability of such cooperation to
achieve its goals and projections of market opportunity, the
potential timeline for the deployment of the battery swapping
infrastructure in Maharashtra, the potential timeline for Gogoro
and Maharashtra to complete the agreement of cooperation, the
potential amount of investment in the cooperation, the
potential growth in India, the
capability of Gogoro's technology, Gogoro's business plans and
statements by Gogoro's founder and chief executive officer and
government officials of the government of Maharashtra. Gogoro's
expectations and beliefs regarding these matters may not
materialize, and actual results in future periods are subject to
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those projected, including risks related to the
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, risks related to macroeconomic
factors including inflation and consumer confidence, risks related
to political tensions, Gogoro's ability to effectively manage its
growth, Gogoro's ability to launch and ramp up the production of
its products and control its manufacturing costs and manage its
supply chain issues, Gogoro's risks related to ability to expand
its sales and marketing abilities, Gogoro's ability to expand
effectively into new markets, foreign exchange fluctuations,
Gogoro's ability to obtain related governmental approvals in
different jurisdictions, Gogoro's ability to develop and maintain
relationships with its partners, risks associated with formalizing
the cooperation, including reaching a definitive agreement on the
terms of the cooperation and the timing of formalizing the
cooperation, risks related to operating in the India, regulatory risks in different
jurisdictions and Gogoro's risks related to strategic
collaborations, risks related to the India market and other international markets,
alliances or joint ventures including Gogoro's ability to enter
into and execute its plans related to strategic collaborations,
alliances or joint ventures in order for such strategic
collaborations, alliances or joint ventures to be successful and
generate revenue, Gogoro's ability to raise additional capital, the
risks related to the need for Gogoro to invest more capital in
strategic collaborations, alliances or joint ventures, and the risk
of Gogoro having to update the accounting treatment for strategic
collaborations, alliances or joint ventures. The forward looking
statements contained in this communication are also subject to
other risks and uncertainties, including those more fully described
in Gogoro's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission
("SEC"), including in Gogoro's Form 20-F for the year ended
December 31, 2022, which was filed on
March 31, 2023 and in its subsequent
filings with the SEC, copies of which are available on our website
and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. The forward looking
statements in this communication are based on information available
to Gogoro as of the date hereof, and Gogoro disclaims any
obligation to update any forward looking statements, except as
required by law.
1 the "Proposed Ultra Mega Project Investment
Plan"
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