M&M to use part of funds kept for shelved Ford JV to develop new EV platform

Mahindra & Mahindra is looking to develop a new EV platform. Some of the investment for this may come from the fund put aside for the company’s joint venture with Ford Motor, which was shelved earlier. M&M had outlined an investment of around Rs 3,000 crore including direct equity and debt.

As per M&M management, the company's EV program has three stages. For Phase-1, which consists of last-mile mobility in the form of three-wheelers and LCVs has already seen investment. Phase-2 consists of electrification of its existing products while in Phase 3, M&M will build a new EV platform, which will require further investment.

Just to remind our readers, Mahindra Electric has already launched the MESMA (Mahindra Electric Scalable Modular Architecture) platform in 2018. Mahindra Electric, which announced the global launch of the MESMA platform in September 2020, said its robust MESMA 48 platform offers globally competitive quality and is cost-effective. It is one of the company’s most utilised EV technology solution architecture. According to the company, the platform is highly scalable and has till date powered over 11,000 EVs on Indian roads. It can electrify a range of vehicles including three-wheelers, quadricycles, and even compact cars.