India’s leading electric vehicles manufacturer, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Uber have announced a partnership to introduce electric vehicles as taxis across Indian cities to make the most of the policy push by the government for cleaner transportation.
Mahindra, in partnership with Uber, will launch its models — e2o plus hatchback and eVerito sedan — as taxis in Delhi and Hyderabad under a pilot program. eVerito is the model Mahindra will deliver to the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) under the recent tender.
“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 said.
As per terms of the partnership, Uber drivers can opt to purchase Mahindra cars at competitive prices, along with attractive insurance premiums, financing rates and maintenance packages. Mahindra will work with Uber to set up charging infrastructure across multiple locations in these cities.
Interestingly, Mahindra has also signed a similar agreement with Uber’s competitor Ola Cabs. Ola & Mahindra have introduced electric taxis in the city of Pune and have also set up charging stations in the city.
Such agreements are in the interest of all parties involved. Mahindra would like to demonstrate its dominance in the EV market as it is the only manufacturer with ready EV models in India. Yet, the company initially lost a tender to supply electric sedans to the government to Tata Motors, which has not launched an EV model in India to date.
Uber and Ola would like to be seen as leaders in Indian government’s push to shift to electric vehicles. The cab aggregators have been in the crosshairs of the several state governments in India for safety issues, fares, and competition with other public transportation options.
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