Mahindra continues betting big on EVs, to invest Rs 900 Cr in 4 years

Mahindra Group is aggressively moving forward in electric vehicles (EVs) segment as it today announced to invest Rs 900 crore in EVs over the next four years. The company will infuse the fresh investment to expand the first installed capacity to 5,000 units a month.

Of the total investment, Rs 400 crore will be invested in Karnataka and Rs 500 crore in Maharashtra.

At present, Mahindra has a capacity of 400 units a month, which will go up to 1,500, including three-wheelers by this September. It plans to roll out 4,000 units by next December, which will ultimately reach up to the capacity of 5,000 units a month.

The group has been investing in EVs and already pumped in Rs 600 crore over the past five-six years.

The push of electric vehicles, which was being widely promoted by Central Cabinet ministers, came to a sudden halt last week after the government refused to formulate an electric vehicles policy. Nitin Gadkari, minister for road transport, said no further incentives will be accorded to the industry other than the existing ones.

"We are not waiting for any policy to move forward. To be a pioneer, you have to create the road and we have to move forward," managing director Pawan Goenka said on the sidelines of the ongoing Maharashtra investor summit.

However, a group of top vehicle makers — Hero Electric, Okinawa Scooters, Mahindra and Mahindra and Tata Motors, called Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) — is planning to meet government officials to seek clarity on the position on EVs.

The industry body is seeking more subsidy on electric two-wheelers – currently fixed at up to Rs 22,000. They want the government to spend the entire subsidy amount over two or three years rather than five or six years.

The body also wants the second part of the FAME (subsidy) scheme to be implemented immediately, from April 2, as the existing version of the scheme, if continued, would be meaningless.

With an aim to promote eco-friendly vehicles, the government had launched the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles in India (FAME India) scheme in 2015 offering incentives on electric and hybrid vehicles of up to Rs 29,000 for bikes and Rs 1.38 lakh for cars.

However, over 60 per cent of a total Rs 196.77 crore incentive provided by the government till June last year under the FAME scheme to promote hybrid and electric vehicles went to mild hybrid four-wheelers.

SMEV believes that electricity-powered vehicles are the way forward and not hybrid ones, and the government should focus on promoting electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers along with public transport buses in the next few years.

The news was first reported by ET via PTI.