Mahindra says shared mobility services key to drive electric vehicle sales

Anand Mahindra, chairman, Mahindra Group believes shared mobility services will be essential to bringing in volumes for electric vehicles, which at present constitute a miniscule portion of the total passenger vehicle segment.

One of Mahindra Reva’s largest customers today is Lithium Urban Technologies, a Bengaluru-based electric vehicle fleet company, Mahindra added.  

“We have also worked closely with Scoot Networks (a San Francisco-based electric scooter ride share network) in America and they have 600 Mahindra GenZe’s running in their fleet,” he said. The carmaker launched the electric two-wheeler, designed for students and urban commuters in the US in January this year.

The company believes a considerable surge in electric vehicle volume can only be achievable by taxi-hailing apps and once a carmaker reaches that volume, it will be in a strong position to prod the government to create right infrastructure for electric vehicles.

Citing the example of electric carmaker Tesla, which has aggressively pushed for electric cars, Mahindra said while the US-based car manufacturer has made electric cars desirable, it is not a volume-seller. “Tesla's sales are not really approaching critical mass. I believe that while its strategy makes electric cars an object of desire, the revolution in electric cars will only come when you go down to the bottom of the pyramid, which I think the Olas of the world will be more instrumental in doing that,” he said.

The country’s largest utility vehicle maker, who recently launched the eVerito, today announced a tie-up with India’s leading cab aggregator Ola, with an aim to offer Ola drivers an opportunity to buy Mahindra vehicles at special prices, attractive financing with zero down payment, low interest rates and subsidised insurance premium.

As a part of the agreement, the carmaker plans to sell 40,000 vehicles to Ola across India by 2018. It is likely that the Verito sedan will constitute a major chunk of the sales.

In October 2015, Ola had entered into a partnership with Mahindra First Choice Services in an effort to offer discounted car maintenance services to its drivers.