Mahindra To Source EV Components From VW For Its Born Electric Platform

Mahindra & Mahindra and Volkswagen have announced that they are exploring the possibility of using the latter's electric components, developed for the MEB (Modular Electric-Drive Toolkit) platform, for Mahindra's new "Born Electric Platform". The two companies signed a partnering agreement in Chennai on May 18, 2022, to evaluate the scope of collaboration. Under this partnership, Mahindra aims to use Volkswagen Group's MEB electric components such as electric motors, battery system components and battery cells to develop its next-gen Born Electric Vision (BEV) platform, which will spawn a range of new EVs.

Volkswagen has designed its MEB electric architecture as an open vehicle platform, which allows other car manufacturers to source the EV components and build their portfolio of electrified vehicles in a quick and cost-effective manner. Mahindra and Volkswagen say that the joint objective of this partnership is to electrify the Indian automotive market. While this certainly has a lot more scope, at the moment the two companies are evaluating the scope of the partnership. Based on where the partnership leads to, we could even see joint development of EV components in the future.

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Mahindra aims to use Volkswagen Group's MEB electric components such as electric motors, battery system components and battery cells

The agreement indicates binding rules for the evaluation phase as well as the non-binding scope of supply. The binding supply agreement will be negotiated in a continued constructive and legally compliant way, and it will conclude by the end of 2022. We did reach out to Mahindra for more clarification on its future plans, however, the company was not immediately available for comment.

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Thomas Schmall, Volkswagen Group Board of Management member for Technology and CEO of Volkswagen Group Components, stated, "Together with Mahindra, we want to contribute significantly to the electrification of India, a huge automotive market with enormous growth potential and high relevance for climate protection. It's another proof point that the MEB is both technologically state of the art and highly competitive in terms of cost. The MEB is thus progressively developing into the leading open platform for e-mobility, generating significant volume and economies of scale. That's crucial for every company in the EV world and the key to competitive solutions for our customers."

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Mahindra is right now gearing up to reveal its new-gen EV concepts based on the BEV platform in July 2022

Commenting on the partnership, Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director, Auto and Farm Sectors, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., stated: "We are very pleased to have Volkswagen, a significant global investor in the electric mobility space, as a strategic partner in achieving our ambitious Born Electric Vison. The complementarity of their extensive technology, innovation, and vertical integration in supply chains, will provide a framework to develop our next-gen "Born Electric Platform", to be revealed soon in Oxfordshire UK. Our teams across India, UK and Detroit are passionately creating a breath-taking future."

Mahindra is right now gearing up to reveal its new-gen EV concepts based on the BEV platform in July 2022.