The first among these three electric vehicles from Mahindra would be the eKUV100 which will come this year itself. The electric XUV300 and Mahindra badged Ford Aspire electric will follow.
Mahindra has been one of the pioneering brands in EV technology in India. Before any manufacturer could even think electric, Mahindra had the e2o and then the e-Verito sedan as well. Now that the government in incentivising electric mobility in Inida, Mahindra sure wants to take a lead in this regard and they have announced three more electric vehicles are slated to be launched by 2021.
This news came at the announcement of the first quarter financial results yesterday. The first to arrive among them would be KUV100 electric which is slated to arrive as early as end-2019. That would be followed by the electric XUV300 which would arrive in 2020 and as we have reported earlier, a Mahindra-badged electric version of the Ford Aspire will likely come in 2021.
As a matter of fact, all these cars were designed with regular internal combustion engines but have been converted to an EV. Well, Mahindra is also developing an independent EV platform specifically meant to underpin future EVs from Mahindra. These EVs based on this new platform is expected to arrive in the next 3-4 years.
Mahindra MD Pawan Goenka, said, “As far as EVs go, the focus is more on three- and two-wheelers right now but four-wheelers will catch up. With the 5 percent GST reduction, the business case for EVerito becomes almost even. If, for instance, the 5 percent duty on the lithium-ion cell goes away, then the earnings for a shared mobility service provider will be the same for an e-Verito as well as for any diesel or petrol sedan.”
Also Read : Mahindra KUV100 Electric Launching By The End Of 2019 – Report
The GST council reduced the GST on electric vehicles from 12% to 5% to advance the case of EVs in India. Not only that, but the GST on EV chargers and charging stations have been reduced from the previous 18% to just 5%. That should significantly help in improving the charging infrastructure in the country. Pawan Goenka welcomed the move by saying, “Mahindra has many EV projects in progress. We will review immediately to see if we can fast forward some of them and also also look at faster ramp-up of capacity.”
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As the country progresses towards a new era of mobility, Pawan Goenka believes that internal combustion engine vehicles have been one of the pillars of our economy and the push towards EVs should not destroy that market. Both should co-exist simultaneously, maintaining a balance with each other.
