Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra join hands to promote Electric Vehicles

Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra Mahindra and Tata Motors have joined hands to invest in the electric technology and will be developing components required in electric and hybrid vehicles. The investment comes as a major boost to electric vehicles in India which have observed a sluggish growth due to high initial costs.

The initiative comes at a time when the government has walked an extra mile to push this green technology in vehicles. In April 2015, the Union Government came up with FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles) scheme in India which in itself constitutes the first phase of National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP). FAME aims to promote the electric technology as it is environment-friendly and has other related benefits too. To promote this, the government is offering subsidies to both the manufacturers as well as the customers. Recently, it organised a "FAME India Eco-Drive” under the Ministry of Heavy Industries, which received an overwhelming response.

Arvind Mathew, Chief of Mahindra Reva, said that they are working on developing components and systems to ensure common standards for them as well as help drive down costs. This is expected to eventually lead to lower cost of ownership of these vehicles. He apprised that the electric versions of Verito sedan and mini-truck Maxximo will be launched for sale in a couple of months. The company is in conversation with cab aggregators such as Ola and seeks to include their vehicles as a part of their fleet. The recent ruling of Supreme Court also instructed the taxis in NCR region to convert to CNGs, latest by March 31, 2016.

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