Just a few days back we reported the joint venture between Hero Electric and Mahindra for the manufacturing of electric two-wheelers. This collaboration has already started reaping results and the first-ever electric scooter has been rolled out of Mahindra’s Pithampur factory.
As a result of this Mahindra-Hero Electric partnership, Mahindra will be responsible for manufacturing Hero’s Optima and Nyx electric scooters in its facilities.
The companies say that this was an important step taken to meet the growing demand for electric two-wheelers in the country. By using Mahindra’s manufacturing facility, Hero Electric wants to make over a million battery-operated scooters this year.
Delighted to share that we have rolled out our first electric two-wheeler- Optima from the Pithampur plant as part of our strategic partnership with Mahindra Group.#HeroElectric #TheSmartMove #SwitchToElectric #Optima pic.twitter.com/xZSqIWuj2qFebruary 7, 2022
Apart from jointly producing scooters, developing a supply chain and sharing platform for electric two-wheelers, both the companies will also work towards the electrification of Mahindra-owned Peugeot Motorcycles. Mahindra says that this partnership will be crucial in the “joint development” of products, knowledge sharing and will help in expanding the market of Peugeot motorcycles to various parts of the globe.
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Good signs of the Indian EV market
While consolidation normally happens when the market dynamics change drastically – the Indian telecom sector is an easy example of the same. With the arrival of Jio, various smaller brands exited India while two of the closest competitors joined hands to create a new entity.
In the contrast, the Indian EV market is at its nascent stage. The electric car segment grew at over two hundred percent in recent times, we also saw the electric two-wheeler register record numbers in December - yet the total share is minuscule when compared to ICE vehicles.
Since the segment is only picking up pace and we’ve seen the sort of response new entrants like Ola Electric and Simple Energy got, it is pretty evident that bigger and more established players have a lot of scopes.
Hero Motocorp’s recent investment in Ather Energy and the announcement of entering into EV business could be seen as one of the reasons behind the Mahindra-Hero Electric collaboration. Incidentally, both Mahindra and Hero Electric could be perfect partners as while Hero Electric enjoys over thirty-six percent market share in battery-operated two-wheelers, it doesn’t have any experience in making cars.
Mahindra, on the other hand, has a rich experience when it comes to making cars and even own the Reva electric car brand, it doesn’t have any presence in the domestic two-wheeler market.
Hence, not only we could soon see electric bikes being introduced by either of the two brands, we might even see the launch of affordable electric cars – a product that could act as a catalyst in the growth of zero-emission cars in the country.
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