Mahindra Electric gearing up to be a component supplier

Speaking to Autocar India, Mahindra Electric (ME) stated that the company is open to being a supplier to other vehicle manufacturers and will sell complete electric drive systems to those interested. At present, the ME plant builds the e2o while it ships out the drive systems for the eVerito sedan and eSupro van. For this purpose, the production line has been modified to produce not just built-up vehicles but also fully ready electric drive systems that can be offered to other manufacturers interested in procuring them. With expertise in electrification virtually absent in India, ME hopes to build on its first-mover advantage and cater to the industry. It’s unlikely that there would be any takers for passenger cars but commercial and three-wheeler manufacturers could be potential customers.

Mahindra also confirmed that they are open to supplying other bits like charge system controllers as well. Mahindra outsources the battery and electric motor for its EV powertrains and has no plans of producing these components in-house as, apart from the huge investments needed, there is no real advantage. Battery technology is quite specialised and there are many players in this field already. And, with electric motor efficiency already at 80 percent – compared to about 30 percent for internal combustion engines – there is very little to differentiate one EV maker from another. Mahindra believes the real differentiator in the near future will be in the battery management systems where big gains can be made in the charging and discharging cycle. Thus, ME is putting a lot of effort into this area and, going forward, has ambitions to be a supplier solely for battery management systems to other manufacturers.

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