M&M To Expand EV Portfolio As Shared Mobility Push Pays Off
M&M is looking to launch the electric version of the XUV 300 compact SUV for personal use by next year.
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. is looking to ramp up its electric vehicle portfolio as it finds success in shared mobility.
“Commercial viability for electric three and four wheelers has been proved,” Pawan Goenka, managing director at Mahindra & Mahindra, told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday. The company has sold 6,000 battery-powered cars, including 1,100 e-Veritos to EV fleet operator Lithium Urban Technology.
Goenka said the automaker is focused on shared mobility and is looking at ways to make EVs more affordable before launching a battery-powered vehicle for personal use. To begin, it plans to introduce e-KUV 100—an electric version of its compact SUV —for shared mobility at the upcoming auto expo at less than Rs 9 lakh.
M&M is looking to launch the electric vehicle version of one its most successful models, the XUV 300 compact SUV, for personal use by next year, Goenka said.
The company plans to set up an R&D centre in Bangalore with an investment of about Rs 500 crore, and is investing another Rs 500 crore in Jharkhand to set up the capacity for making high-voltage batteries, high-powered starters and motors in the country.
Arvind Mathew, chief of international operations at M&M, said the company is also considering making charging equipment but won’t installing charging stations.
Goenka said the government has done enough to boost EV ecosystem in the country and it is now up to companies to take it forward in order to make e-mobility affordable. Automakers need to reduce prices of electric vehicles by 8-10 percent to boost demand, he said.
M&M’s focus on EVs comes at a time when the industry grapples with a prolonged slowdown. And it’s not alone. In the last one year, Tata Motors Ltd., MG Motors and Hyundai Motor India Pvt. Ltd. have unveiled their electric vehicles.
Watch interview with M&M’s Arvind Mathew on the EV push and Ford tie-up.