Mahindra signs MOUs with Maharashtra government for electric vehicle manufacture, deployment

• Mahindra to boost further investment in its Chakan plant for the manufacture of EVs/EV components
• Mahindra to deploy 1,000 EVs over the next 1 year across key cities of Maharashtra, as part of a strategic alliance
• The first deployment of EVs will see 25 e2oPlus vehicles ported on the Zoomcar platform in Mumbai

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., a part of the US $19 billion Mahindra Group on Thursday signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with the Government of Maharashtra (GoM), to further its next phase of expansion in electric vehicles (EVs) and achieve its vision of becoming completely electric ready. This is in line with the Government's pursuit for rapid adoption of EVs for private use as well as public (shared mobility).

The MoUs were signed by the chief secretary and additional chief secretary, industries on behalf of the Government of Maharashtra and Dr Pawan Goenka, MD of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. in the presence of the Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, union minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, chairman of Mahindra Group, Anand Mahindra and others. The joint declarations have been signed to further the government's vision to make Maharashtra a globally competitive state for EVs and component manufacture and to maximize the adoption of EVs in the state.

Under the aegis of the first MoU, the company will make efforts to become fully electric ready by further investing in its Chakan plant for the manufacture of EVs, e-motor, controller, battery pack and other electric vehicle components for multiple mobility applications related to battery pack assembly of EVs.

As part of this expansion plan, the company will invest an additional Rs. 500 crore. The second MoU underlines the intent to explore a strategic alliance to enable Mahindra to deploy EVs across key cities in Maharashtra. Towards this, both the company and the Government will work closely with various fleet partners, taxi aggregators, logistics companies, amongst others to deploy 1,000 electric cars over the next one year.

The first deployment of EVs, as part of the MoU, will see 25 Mahindra e2oPlus vehicles ported on the Zoomcar platform in Mumbai, on the occasion of World Environment Day. The range of applications for the deployment of these EVs across the key cities of the state will include employee transport between office and home for corporates, taxi-hailing, ride sharing and self-drive car rental amongst others.

"We are delighted to announce the next phase of our EV expansion plans at Chakan and would like to thank the Government of Maharashtra for their continuous and unstinted support. At Mahindra, we have pioneered the sustainable mobility cause in India and have remained committed to it for almost a decade. Now, we are investing further in next-generation EV technology solutions and are actively engaging with the ecosystem stakeholders, both private and public to drive faster adoption of electric vehicles. The Government of Maharashtra recognizes this fact and we are delighted to make the state a key partner in our growth over the coming years," said Pawan Goenka in a press release.