Mumbai : Despite policy the lingering uncertainties, the Mahindra Group on Monday announced a fresh Rs 900-crore investment in electric vehicles (EVs) over the next four years, which should ramp up its first installed capacity to 5,000 units a month.
“We have already invested Rs 600 crore in EVs over the past five-six years and have decided to invest Rs 400 crore in Karnataka and Rs 500 crore in Maharashtra over the next four-five years. This will be used for capacity, technology and products,” managing director Pawan Goenka said.
“We are not waiting for any policy to move forward. To be a pioneer, you have to create the road and we have to move forward,” he said at an investors’ summit.
Goenka said there is a need for the prevailing subsidies on EVs to continue for longer to ensure growth of this industry.
Once it touches a critical mass of say 2 lakh units a month, which he expects by 2022, it will be on an equal footing with the conventional internal combustion engine-based vehicles, he said.
At present, Mahindra has a capacity of 400 units a month, which will go up to 1,500, including three-wheelers by this September, he said, adding by next December they should be capable of rolling out 4,000 units.
The current investment plan aims to take the capacity to 5,000 units a month and is based on certain assumptions like the subsidies continuing, Goenka said.
He said the auto maker will be doing all parts of the EV play, except batteries that need more technologies.
