M&M, Hero Electric join forces to cater to the growing EV demand in India
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Hero Electric have announced a strategic partnership in electric mobility to cater to the increasing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) in India.
As part of the collaboration, Mahindra Group will manufacture Hero Electric's electric bikes – Optima & NYX at their Pitampur plant to meet the growing demands of the market. Hero Electric's manufacturing unit is in Ludhiana, and it sells a wide range of electric scooters.
"With this collaboration along with the expansion of their existing Ludhiana facility, Hero will be able to meet its demand of manufacturing over 1 million EVs per year by 2022. This will further enable them to drive adoption of a cleaner mode of transport," M&M said.
The automaker and Hero Electric will enter a five-year contract with the scope to develop the area of partnership in the future. Over the contract period, the value of the transaction is expected to be in the range of Rs.140 – 150 crore.
The collaboration will leverage the plant capacity utilization of the company and help Hero Electric meet its growing demand for its EVs.
Naveen Munjal, Managing Director, Hero Electric said, "Hero Electric has been leading the Electric two-wheeler sector in the country. To further deepen its roots and strengthen the leadership, Hero Electric has announced a partnership with the Mahindra Group, which is leading the EV transition in the electric three and four-wheelers space."
Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director, Auto & Farm Sectors, Mahindra & Mahindra, said, "Peugeot Motorcycles has ambitious plans in the EV mobility space in several regions of the world and particularly in Europe. This strategic partnership will bolster these efforts through joint development and a platform sharing approach leveraging the combined strengths of the two businesses."
"Our R&D Centre in India will be integral to this arrangement as will the manufacturing facility at Pitampura, that already supplies Peugeot with EV products," Jejurikar added.
