Magna increases bet on battery swapping in India with $35M for Yuma

Canadian auto parts giant Magna International is investing another $35 million in Yuma Energy, a Bengaluru-based battery-swapping network for electric two- and three-wheelers, increasing its stake beyond the 51% it took when the joint venture formed with Indian mobility startup Yulu in early 2023. Yulu’s 49% stake will be diluted as a result; Yuma managing director Muthu Subramanian declined to disclose the new ownership split. Yuma has completed more than 60 million swaps to date and now has about 100,000 batteries deployed across its network. Yulu and Yuma are Magna’s only startup investments in India; in 2022 the company committed a combined $77 million to the two businesses, $25 million to Yulu and $52 million to the battery-swapping joint venture.

Magna’s bet hinges on India’s gig economy: Subramanian estimates only about 10% to 15% of vehicles used by gig workers in India are electric today, leaving room for growth as more riders switch from gasoline-powered vehicles. “With Indian gig workers’ high runtime on a daily basis, an EV makes absolute sense in terms of cost of ownership,” Subramanian said. A battery can be swapped in under two minutes, he said, versus a 20- or 30-minute fast charge that takes a rider off the road.

Yuma is not yet profitable, though some of its older stations are already EBITDA-positive; the firm operates more than 400 stations with over 2,500 charging units and ended the fiscal year in March 2026 with about ₹1 billion (roughly $10.5 million) in revenue, targeting EBITDA break-even within the next two quarters. It plans to use most of Magna’s new investment to expand its infrastructure and double its roughly 100,000-battery fleet over the next 12 to 18 months across its 18 Indian cities, including plans to add Chennai and Pune. Yulu still accounts for the vast majority of Yuma’s lifetime swaps, though non-Yulu customers made up about 15% to 20% of swaps in the latest quarter, a share Subramanian expects to reach about 25% within two years — helped by Yulu’s own recent $93 million raise to expand its electric two-wheeler fleet.

Why it matters

Magna’s expanded bet shows a legacy auto supplier wagering that battery-swapping, which has struggled to scale elsewhere, can work in India’s dense, high-mileage gig economy — a model it may eventually try to export to Southeast Asia and Africa.