Mahindra Electric scouts for a strategic investor to scale up operations

Officials at Mahindra Electric have said the company today does not want to be just an electric vehicle manufacturer but a complete mobility solutions provider. The company is making Treo, the electric three-wheeler, battery packs and motors and has a mobility solution platform called Nemo.

Babu explained that as a next step the company is planning to share electric vehicle technology with Mahindra subsidiary SsangYong and is even looking at supplying EV technologies to companies outside the Mahindra group. The company is set to make an announcement on charging solutions and infrastructure at the upcoming auto expo. All these plans to scale up operations would need further investment, he said.

In the days to come, Mahindra Electric will be the technology partner for the entire Mahindra group when it comes to planning, launching new vehicles and maintaining electric vehicles during their life cycle.

Speaking about expectations from the budget, the CEO said the government should consider abolishing the customs duty on lithium-ion cells, which would reduce the cost of electric vehicles. He also hoped that the budget would promote investments to develop EV technologies and manufacturing in India.

Mahindra & Mahindra sold approximately 10,400 electric vehicles in FY 2019. “The Treo and our three-wheeler products are doing extremely well.  We are likely to end the year at three to four times more than last year’s sales volume,” he said.

CNBC-TV18 spoke to Mahesh Babu on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue on  January 16, before the company went into its silent period, ahead of the group announcing its earnings.