Mahindra, Uber come together for EV push in India

Mumbai: Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) will team up with Uber to explore deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) on the cab aggregator's platform in several cities across India, the automaker said today.

The company, which has already tied up with Uber's rival Ola to build an electric mass mobility ecosystem in Nagpur, will deploy "hundreds of electric vehicles in Delhi and Hyderabad" under the new partnership.

Mahindra's electric vehicles on the Uber platform will include the e2oPlus hatch and the eVerito sedan.

"Our collaboration with Uber is an important next step to help accelerate the large scale adoption of electric vehicles on shared mobility platforms and meet the nation's vision for EVs," M&M Managing Director Pawan Goenka told reporters here.

As part of this collaboration, both the companies will also explore deployment of Mahindra electric vehicles in other cities.

On the tie-up, Uber Chief Business Officer, India and Emerging Markets, Madhu Kannan said the company aims to build a more sustainable future of mobility, moving more people requiring on-demand services with fewer, fuller, and more efficient vehicle trips.

"We see a key role for high efficiency vehicle technologies and therefore, believe that this collaboration with Mahindra, the pioneers in the electric vehicles space, will be truly beneficial not just for Uber, but for our driver partners, riders and the cities we operate in," he added.

As part of the arrangement, driver partners on the Uber app can avail of a package that will include Mahindra electric vehicles at competitive prices, attractive financing and insurance premiums as well as comprehensive maintenance packages from M&M and its associates.

Furthermore, to make this model durable, M&M and Uber will work closely with public and private players which are in the process of setting up a common use charging ecosystem across multiple locations in the cities.

M&M will also support driver education and training related to various aspects of electric vehicles.