"M&M Contemplates Establishment of EV Battery Manufacturing Facility"

Indian automotive giant Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is deliberating on the establishment of a battery manufacturing facility dedicated to its electric vehicles (EVs). The company is currently in the process of assessing the feasibility of such a plant and intends to explore potential partnerships to materialize this initiative.

Dr. Anish Shah, Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Mahindra Group, shared insights during an analyst meeting, stating, "We are going to look at the next phase on whether we should have a battery plant or not. The inclination is that we should have. But we need to verify the inclination through a lot of data and analysis on the benefits of doing and make the final call. Then the question is with whom and what technology we should use."

Mahindra & Mahindra previously forged a collaboration with Volkswagen in 2022 to explore synergies aimed at accelerating electrification efforts in India. This collaboration included the supply of MEB (Volkswagen's open platform for EVs) electric components for Mahindra's EVs.

Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director and CEO of the Auto & Farm Sector at M&M Ltd, highlighted ongoing discussions with Volkswagen regarding the localization of battery cells in India. However, progress on this front has been relatively slow due to bandwidth constraints faced by Volkswagen with multiple giga plants worldwide. The possibility of pursuing this localization initiative with a partner remains under evaluation for Mahindra & Mahindra.

In 2023, Volkswagen announced advanced discussions with the Mahindra group for the utilization of key MEB components, including the e-drive and unified cells, for its models.

M&M is gearing up to launch its Born electric vehicles in 2025, introducing models such as Born Electric (BE), XUV.e, THAR.e, SCORPIO.e, and BOLERO.e into the market. These endeavors underscore Mahindra & Mahindra's commitment to advancing its presence in the EV segment and contributing to India's sustainable mobility goals.

HBL