Mahindra betting big on next generation electric vehicles
MUMBAI: Mahindra Electric, the electric vehicle making arm of Mahindra Group is developing next generation electric vehicles.
It is also ramping up capacity as well as improvising technology for existing ones, as it seeks to corner a big pie in the government-backed electric mobility mission, which envisages to put 6 million electric vehicles on Indian roads by 2020 and aims to make India an all- electric vehicle market by 2030.
Mahindra, the only manufacturer of electric passenger vehicles in the country that has struggled with sales of such vehicles in the absence of incentives, infrastructure and requisite policy framework, sees the recent policy push as an opportunity to capitalise on the first mover advantage, it has over its peers.
Pawan Goenka, managing director, Mahindra and Mahindra said he has never been so confident of the future of electric vehicles in India given the amount of “focus, emphasis, thrust coming in from government of India and from the stake- holders including fleet operators and taxi aggregators.”
As part of the plan to focus on mass transport solutions, it plans to launch an electric threewheeler in the next two months.
The Mumbai-based firm is also working on high end premium cars along with Pinninfarina—the Italian design house it acquired a couple of years ago, and its Korean subsidiary Ssangyong that can compete with Tesla Motor. These will primarily be for markets outside India.
Mahindra is working on addressing challenges by working on multiple fronts—it’s looking to reduce cost of manufacturing of such vehicles by as much as 20% by localising parts and aggregates such as controllers, electric motors, etc. It’s also looking to cut the cost of battery, he said. He said globally, electric vehicles emerged as a winner in terms of clean technology and every auto maker and several technology firms are working on high end premium cars but Mahindra’s focus in India, will be on mass, urban mobility given the poor air quality and the viability it offers.