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Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki have come together to invest as well as develop components and systems for electric and hybrid vehicles.
On the sidelines of an event on Monday, Mahindra Reva Chief Executive Arvind Mathew said that they are working on developing components and systems to ensure common standards for them as well as help drive down costs. This is expected to eventually lead to lower cost of ownership of these vehicles. All the three carmakers are also working on common standards for all components and systems though each of them will have their own software IPs.
The three companies came together after the Centre announced in April this year, the FAME India scheme, which offers cash incentives for those who want to buy hybrid and electric vehicles. FAME or Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles in India scheme envisages ₹795 crore in incentives for two years as part of the first phase of the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan. The scheme has been launched in metro cities and it will be later extended to smart cities and tier II and III towns.
The total outlay for this project is estimated at ₹14,000 crore, as per the heavy industries ministry. According to the scheme, the customer buying any form of hybrid or electric vehicle will get the incentive in terms of lower cost, while the manufacturer can claim the incentive from the government.
Electric sedans For electric cars, the incentives range between ₹13,000 and ₹1.38 lakh, while for light commercial vehicles, it ranges between ₹17,000 and ₹1.87 lakh. Mathew said the electric versions of Verito sedan as well as mini-truck Maxximo will be launched for sale in a couple of months. He said the company is in talks with cab aggregators like Ola and other cab operators to include these electric cars as part of their fleet.
The power train of its e2o will be used for these vehicles, said Mathew, who earlier worked as India head of Ford. The price of Verito sedan is expected to be much higher than e2o which costs around ₹ 6.5 lakh. Since its launch in 2004, Reva has sold about 5,500 units. Mahindra & Mahindra acquired a major stake in Reve Electric Car Company from its founder, Chetan Maini in 2010.
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