JSW MG Motor India upended the sub-15 lakh EV segment by introducing the Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) on its Windsor, which was launched about a year ago in September last year. Since then, the manufacturer has extended BaaS to other vehicles in its range as well, such as the Comet and the ZS EV.
The resounding sales success of the Windsor led them to ramp up production capacity, and one of the steps they took to achieve this was to start manufacturing batteries in India (previously, batteries were imported in their entirety). We were invited by MG to witness the process at its Halol manufacturing facility recently, and we came away impressed.
The process starts with the prismatic cells being checked for voltage discrepancies via the open circuit voltage test, while the battery tray is prepped with insulation and the cooling system is checked for leaks. Once the cooling system is secured with bolts, glue is added in the next step. After that, the cells are loaded onto the tray, and then the bus bars are placed.
A giant robot laser welds those into place, followed by the v-sense harness, which is also laser-welded, but this time by humans. After that, the Battery Management System (BMS) is added, and the battery goes through a charge/discharge cycle. Once the top cover is added with a gasket, an air pressure test checks for leaks, and then it’s time for storage. Finally, the battery meets the car, and the machine rolls off the assembly line.
The manufacturing of batteries, along with introducing BaaS as well as launching premium EVs like the Cyberster and the M9, has set MG firmly as one of the leaders in the EV space of our country. This success is reflected by the critics and the general populace alike—the MG Windsor EV won the Green Car Of The Year at the ICOTY 2025, while the Windsor completed its 15,000 production milestone in February this year. We will be eagerly waiting to see what else MG has in store for the Indian market.
