[dZired]

According to media reports, Mahindra Electric has decided to not develop any more 'exclusively-electric' cars for the Indian market. Instead, Mahindra will now focus on developing conventional vehicles that can be electrified easily.

At present, the e2o Plus is the company's only exclusively electric car. Mahindra is now planning to make some updates with respect to the safety features of the car. These updates will include the addition of airbags and ABS in order to make it compliant with the upcoming passenger vehicle safety norms in the country.

In the future, Mahindra Electric will be trying to introduce electric powertrains in regular Mahindra models - similar to what it did with the Verito sedan, which was converted to a pure electric vehicle called the eVerito. However, the company cannot do so with the remaining model line-up. Most of the Mahindra vehicles currently on sale are relatively heavier in weight. This makes them unsuitable for feasible electrification. Therefore, the company needs to make some serious changes in the cars' structures to make them lighter, making the whole exercise time consuming and thus, impractical.

Mahindra has now decided to design its upcoming mainstream models to be compatible with electric powertrains from the scratch. This will help in easier and quicker electrification of the vehicles. Moreover, since the same vehicles will be available with multiple powertrain options (diesel, petrol, electric, etc.), the economies of scale will be enhanced, which will in turn, help the automaker to price the products more competitively.

Source: Autocar India

[airbender]

Originally Posted by dZired

According to media reports, Mahindra Electric has decided to not develop any more 'exclusively-electric' cars for the Indian market. Instead, Mahindra will now focus on developing conventional vehicles that can be electrified easily.

Not a good one but understandable given the economies of scale mahindra has. Also, Govt if India declared a few years back that they will have isro research and design a lithium ion battery for the indian automobile market. What happened to that project?

[landcruiser123]

I actually think that's a good move. India needs compact hybrids, not pure EVs

Reasons:

• I don't think our grid has the capacity for cater to vehicles when so many houses don't get electricity. It'll take a couple of decades to catch up to the demand created by pure Electric Vehicles
• Most of our cars have small engines which are pretty efficient on the highway
• Hybrids with small battery packs can be designed to power vehicles on pure electricity for speeds up to 25-30 kmph and for a small range ~ 35-40 km

We have to tackle the efficiency in urban India- continuous start-stop conditions and high speeds aren't common in most sectors.

[SmartCat]

The often mentioned reasons for failure of E2o -

- Expensive
- Small range, only for city usage
- Only 2 doors.

However, I feel the reason for its failure is something else.

Urban population is moving into apartments (means no plug point at the parking lot) in tier 1 and tier 2 cities. There is simply no way Mahindra can find enough customers for pure electric cars. True - some cities like Bangalore have a good mix of independent houses (with access to plug points) and apartments. That's one of the reasons why Bangaloreans get to see Reva or E2o at least once a week . But these independent houses are coming up only in "left half" of Bangalore, which does not have many tech companies.

I'm shooting from my hip here, but I do feel a techie family is more likely to buy an all-electric car. Unfortunately, he is very likely to stay in an apartment - that has no facility to charge an all-electric car.

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

I actually think that's a good move. India needs compact hybrids, not pure EVs

The rumour is not about stopping development of pure EVs and opting for hybrids instead.

What the article is trying to imply is that all future Mahindras will be light enough to be "electrified". Eg: Next gen KUV100 is likely to be avaialble in petrol, diesel and EV variants. But there won't be a next generation E2o - an electric vehicle only platform.

[mukul32]

I second this approach. I feel if EVs are to become mainstream quickly here, they need to be good regular cars first, and stop unnecessarily distancing themselves too much from conventional cars.

They will only pick up once they're close enough to conventional cars, in terms of form factor, practicality, performance or price. They don't necessarily need to go all snazzy and blue and impractical just because they're electric. If they feel and serve us like we're used to, they can become mainstream much before we're left with no other choice.

The eVerito for example, despite being based on an outdated car, still feels much more acceptable than the newer e2o as a daily driver, because it is far less of a compromise. It is a proper sedan that seats five and has a full size boot. For that matter, it is a rare case of Mahindra keeping it simple with a product, but it has worked quite well.

That's not to say that electric cars shouldn't evolve. But the evolution shouldn't be forced for the sake of it, I'd say.

[GTO]

Can't argue with the numbers. The E20 sells merely in the double-digits every month, while its predecessor (the Reva) sold in the single digits some months!

I remember reading an interview with a senior dude at Maruti (RC Bhargava? Not sure) - he stated that 90% of India parks by the road. Where then will people charge their electric car?

Agreed with the strategy. A pure EV line-up makes little sense for an Indian company. At least in the short to mid term, Mahindra should electrify regular cars (but please, no half-baked overpriced rubbish like the Verito EV).

Mahindra recently announced that they are open to supplying EV components to others. That's a sound business strategy.