M&M, Renesas tie-up for Formula E and electric vehicle development
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) on Thursday announced a strategic partnership with Tokyo-traded Renesas Electronics Corporation, a supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, under which the latter will become the official technology partner for its Formula E team while also working together on electric racing and road cars.
Through this partnership, both organisations will leverage their mutual strengths to expand the development and manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs), powertrain, advanced driver assistance systems, and other systems in India and other emerging markets, the company said in a statement.
Both parties will work together across a number of programmes inclusive of 'proof-of-concept' systems for both racing and road cars, it added. This will be in line with Mahindra's 'race to road' story of the electric vehicle development that the Formula E platform delivers, the statement said. Commenting on the development, M&M Managing Director Pawan Goenka said, "Formula E is helping to grow Mahindra's EV technology and expertise, and this new strategic partnership with Renesas will only help to accelerate our learning curve."
M&M is looking forward to leveraging on the automotive semiconductor expertise of Renesas as it increases thrust in Formula-E and continues to play a pioneering role in the fast growing Indian EV market, he added. Renesas Electronics Executive Vice President Ryuji Omura said India is one of the company's focus markets and is expected to bring about significant business growth for it, particularly in the EV segment. "Through our new partnership with Mahindra, we look forward to bringing our design expertise based on our open and comprehensive Renesas autonomy Platform, to the Indian market," he added. Omura further said that the Indian government's a scheme to limit cars sold in India to only electric vehicles by 2030 would open tremendous opportunities for the EV market.
M&M recently won a tender to supply 150 electric cars to stateowned Energy Efficiency Services. Formula E refers to the FIA Formula E Championship, a class of auto racing that uses only electric-powered cars.