Olectra Greentech and its Chinese technical partner BYD are in talks for a possible collaboration to venture into India’s electric passenger vehicles and vans segment. The Hyderabad-based company has also drawn up an investment plan of Rs 300 crore to set up a new manufacturing facility in Hyderabad, Telangana.

The Olectra-BYD strategic tie-up has supplied 163 electric buses to various state transport undertakings (STUs) across the country under the government’s FAME-India scheme so far.

It also has an order for 85 buses. In addition, the company plans to enter the electric coach segment for private transport companies in coming months. It is working on setting up a second manufacturing plant in Hyderabad by March 2020, which will have an annual capacity of 3,500 units. The new facility will also have provisions for assembling battery packs.

The company’s existing facility in Hyderabad has an annual capacity of making 1,000 units in a single shift. It has a battery pack assembly plant in Chennai, Tamil Nadu which supplies lithium ion batteries for Olectra-BYD buses.

Olectra Greentech is also scouting for operators to run its electric buses for STUs on an operational expenditure (opex) model as the company concentrates its resources on manufacturing.