Mahindra Electric, the electric vehicle (EV) arm of the multi-billion Mahindra & Mahindra Group, has been struggling and waiting for electrification of cars on the Indian roads. It got some excitement when Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari had some tough talk at an event saying by 2030, India should achieve 100 per cent e-mobility. But, all-talks-no-implementation cannot help an industry to grow. There are a lot of loopholes in the draft notes, which need to be explored. In an e-mail interview with BusinessLine, Mahesh Babu, Chief Executive Officer, Mahindra Electric, shares more about the company’s plans ahead for electric mobility. Excerpts:
What are your thoughts on the current scenario of EV market?
The mobility scenario across the globe is changing. Rapid urbanisation and changing lifestyle of millennial population are forcing a rethink on mobility.
Pollution has reached such alarming levels that countries and cities have started to experiment with out-of-the-box solutions. While electric vehicles have been there for long, perhaps, technology has finally reached a stage where we can consider it as a viable option. With the current trends, EVs will very soon be comparable to ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles in terms of costs. Electricity prices, on the other hand, have been more or less stable. What’s more, the electricity production mix of the world is also moving towards renewable and cleaner sources. India, no doubt, will play a very important role on this front, one with the most ambitious plans to go all electric.
Are you satisfied with the policy? Lot of naysayers are there who are against the government's decision to make EVs on Indian roads mandatory by 2030.
Mahindra and Mahindra’s consistent investment in EVs is backed by our belief in clean and sustainable mobility solutions.
An electric future is in line with our philosophy of ‘Rise’ and will positively transform lives for the better.
The NITI Aayog report lays out a clear roadmap to achieve this. This shift is going to create a new paradigm of mobility with improvements acrossmanufacturing, suppliers, jobs, environment and so on.
It’s been long since Mahindra acquired Reva, but there aren’t many products from the Mahindra-Reva (now Mahindra Electric) stable apart from a few models. Will there be fresh/ all-new products, other than electric versions of Scorpio/ XUV that the company plans to offer?
At present, Mahindra Electric has the widest range of EVs in India, with products across both personal and commercial segments.
We have the all-electric hatchback e2oPlus, the electric sedan eVerito and the commercial vehicle eSupro, both in cargo and passenger forms.
Recently, we also announced the roadmap to our future: EV 2.0. Under this strategy, we are looking to develop and launch products to cover two broad segments – one of mass transportation and the other of high performance vehicles.
On the passenger segment front, we would first look at electrifying some of the existing products from the Mahindra stable.
We would also work with different stakeholders to develop vehicles for the luxury segment.
Pininfarina is one such company and there are many such opportunities for collaboration. We will announce any joint launch or activity as and when it is formalised.
But, even after doing so much, why was Mahindra behind getting government tender (EESL) and Tata Motors won a majority number? Why is the delivery to EESL order so slow?
The EESL tender is one of the largest for EVs across the world. M&M participated along with other players, but with a product which was much superior.
The eVerito is above 4-metre and had a range which was much higher than the tender specifications, and hence, the resultant quote that we submitted.
Even so, we were proud to be ready with the vehicle specs in line with the requirements and to be the first to deliver on the order, on time and way ahead of the others.
We are now looking forward to supply vehicles in the second phase of the EESL order.
Since EESL is facing some operational issues to deliver vehicles to its internal customers, the delivery of the phase one vehicles has been phased out.
So, are you satisfied with the sales numbers of the current portfolio?
The present isn’t the right time to evaluate the EV industry on the number of sales. The current penetration of EVs in the country is less than 1 per cent.
The entire industry is still in its nascent stages, but is aggressively moving towards a future where EVs would be how transportation is defined. We believe that the country is moving in the right direction and that we would be able to see a substantial growth in a decade.
When do you think the ecosystem for EVs take place in India and what are the challenges ... pricing, range, infrastructure etc?
In various countries, it has taken anywhere between 3 and 5 years for an EV ecosystem to develop from the time that the industry experiences an initial push from the government.
With the continued effort of the industry and the government, we are hopeful that the same will also hold true for India.
At present, the challenges of perceived high price, low range, poor infrastructure etc., stand true, and are something that the industry and government are jointly working on.
Lowering technology cost, battery chemistry improvements, and volume increase in sales will have an impact on the total cost of ownership of EVs -- they will become much more affordable. In addition, technologies are being developed to extend range, with minimal impact on price of the technology. As far as infrastructure is concerned, various stakeholders are showing interest and are working towards setting up a reliable and extensive charging system.
All these challenges are just for the present, with accelerated adoption of EVs, the entire ecosystem will be in place sooner than we expect.
But, many say the government's current subsidies are not enough to make EVs affordable. Can you make EVs which are affordable to common man (under ₹4 lakh) and yet give longer range, say 300 km per charge?
If we consider battery cost in specific, it accounts for close to 40 per cent of the vehicle cost and the current trends show that it has come down by more than 50 per cent compared to that in 2010 and is expected to decrease even further.
We recently inaugurated the first-ever EV innovation centre of the country, in Bengaluru, where we intend to develop superior technology and also work on reducing cost of technology.
In parallel, we are working on improving our manufacturing system so that costs can be brought down by close to 20 per cent over the next five years.
What kind of localisation or innovation is working for the EVs?
We have been consistently investing in our electric vehicle business over the past year.
Nearly 60 per cent of parts in our current products are locally procured. The imports are mainly confined to battery cells.
When can we see a much improved battery for electric vehicles which will dispel any range anxiety?
Battery technology is at a stage where we can easily provide a range of up to 200 km, depending on the size of the vehicle and space to carry batteries.
Having said that, there is always a trade-off with cost. Higher battery power simply translates into higher costs. And hence, we have to be careful while making range-related decisions.
The next generation of battery technology that we are working on under EV 2.0 will be able to deliver ranges up to 400 km with the same battery size. We are expecting this to be available by 2019-20.
Do you think all the RTOs support the registration of electric vehicles? Is Mahindra facing a roadblock in any State/city?
EVs as a concept is new for everyone in India, including RTOs. We did face a few initial challenges in some parts of the country, but thorough discussions on the specifics of EVs helped resolve them.
Our teams helped the various State RTOs understand the need for EVs, the technical aspects and the benefits.
We are hopeful that this work will benefit the entire industry and with the initial roadblocks now tackled, it will positively push EV adoption.