Exide Industries went up almost 2% today morning to Rs.252. Its UC is applicable at 10% at Rs.272.55, more than its 52-week high of Rs.270.40.

Yesterday night, the company announced that it has entered into a JV with a Swiss company, Leclanche for making electric vehicle batteries in India.

In this JV, Exide will be the majority stake holder at 74.99% while Leclanche will hold 25.01%. The plant is to come up at Gujarat.

As part of the JV, Leclanché will provide access to its knowhow and intellectual property for lithiumion cells, modules and battery management systems and Exide Industries will leverage its extensive sales network and brand.

A module and battery pack assembly line is expected to be operational by Q2 2019 and a lithium-ion cell production plant is expected to be in operation by mid 2020. In the intervening period, cells will be sourced from Leclanché’s plant in Willstätt, Germany.

The JV will focus on e-transport, stationary energy storage systems and speciality storage markets. In e-transport, the target segment is fleet vehicles including e-buses, e-wheelers and e-rickshaws.

This is a good move as Exide is trying to take a lead in the lithium-ion battery industry, which is expected to grow significantly in the next few years.