Electric mobility in India is the need of the hour: Mahesh Babu, Mahindra Electric

Mahindra Electric Mobility Ltd, a part of the $20.7 billion Mahindra Group and the pioneers of electric mobility in India, unveiled a new corporate brand identity with a new logo and tagline – ‘Spark the New’. The new brand identity is meant to give the brand a renewed thrust to achieve its global ambition of being a leading player in electric mobility technology solutions. 

The identity also simplifies the portfolio so that the vehicles and hardware solutions are offered under ME branding and the software solutions are offered under NEMO branding. The new identity further enhances the brand for a digital world by ensuring the logo works seamlessly on digital assets as well as on the EV components and vehicles. This move will help the brand approach the Indian and global markets with a clarity of purpose and a sharply defined identity. 

The launch of the new brand coincides with the completion of over 200 million electric kilometers by Mahindra EVs on Indian road. The 200 million plus eKilometers done by Mahindra’s electric vehicles has helped save over 22,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions in India. This translates into the need to plant over 10 lakh trees to absorb the equivalent levels of emissions. 

The company also unveiled its new vision of being a leading brand in enabling customised electric mobility solutions through cutting-edge technology. The new identity intends to position the organisation as the preferred e-mobility partner for OEMs across the globe. 

Speaking at the launch of the new brand identity, Mahesh Babu, CEO, Mahindra Electric, said, “Today, with a decade’s worth of experience in electric vehicle technology, we are completely prepared to make India an EV hub and take our technologies global. Our new positioning is an acknowledgement of this ambition while being a testament to our pioneering past. It emphasises our ambition to innovate and create cutting-edge technology with agility, such that we deliver products which make a positive difference to society.” 

He further added, “Our new identity truly recognises the essence of ‘Mahindra Electric’ and there are no better words to capture this than ‘Spark The New’. These powerful words resonate not just with us at Mahindra Electric, but are a clarion call for everyone to join the movement towards sustainable mobility.” 

New Logo 

In the new logo, the word ‘Electric’ has been derived from the characters of the word Mahindra, thereby ensuring uniformity and recognition. The characters of the word ‘electric’ have been made lowercase to make the brand more approachable. 

The red colour in the logo helps us to ensure our identity is deeply connected with the parent Mahindra brand and the blue ensures our connection with electric mobility is further strengthened. 

New tagline 

Our ‘Spark the New’ positioning is a rallying cry for action and works with both internal and the external stakeholders. It has an active voice and a vibrant energy that ensures our actions are always guided by innovation in order to drive new thinking, new ideas and new solutions in the electric mobility technology space.

In conversation with Adgully, Mahesh Babu, CEO, Mahindra Electric, speaks at length about the growth of the electric mobility market in India, how Mahindra Electric plans to tap the growing potential, campaign and marketing strategies and much more. 

What are the learnings and new strategies that you have adopted to fortify your global approach?
Earlier, we were working with products that had a low voltage system. We’ve already demonstrated ‘Mesma’ during the last Expo and we’ll produce it with 350 voltage system. The components of Mesma 350 are what we are looking at exporting to other countries like South Korea. We also find that Mahindra Electric is in a very unique position to know about low and high voltage. 48 volts system is becoming popular in European markets and also in hybrid vehicles. We feel this voltage system can be scaled up globally because two- and three-wheelers are always at 48 volt system. Two- and three-wheeler vehicles have a huge market India and now we also have the 350 volt system which can be exported globally. So, we are in a very unique position to own a technology which can power up multiple products. Hence, we want to share this with others to electrify their products. We aren’t just vehicle or battery pack manufacturers, but a one-stop solution. We’re integrators who provide solutions to the customer. 

With the new re-branding, what are the marketing and campaign initiatives that you are going to carry out?
We are starting off with a digital campaign, which will be followed by a lifestyle participation. We will be going around asking people what ‘Sparks the new’ in their life. It’s a thirst for different areas. We have a thirst for electric mobility, but anybody can have a thirst in any area. We are happy to learn from others in different areas and understand how they have sparked something new in their life. We would want to implement these learnings and these will form the campaign that we will carry out. We will start with digital and over a period of time it will be across platforms. We have Lander as the agency partner for this initiative. 

What makes you so upbeat about electric mobility in India? What’s the potential and how big is the market going to be in the next five years?
Electric mobility in India is the need of the hour due to societal issues like pollution. What is more heartening is that the Government of India, both Central and State, have come up with policies to promote this. The need of the hour is understood by the Government, citizens and the industry. While Mahindra was the pioneer in electric mobility, we actually see more players coming in now, which is good. Competition will allow the customers to get the best and it expands the market. 

We are playing on fleet mobility, last mile and public transport. This is what we are investing in. We are working on fleet vehicles that can run 2 lakh kilometers without any problem, along with our partners Lithium Urban Technologies. Our job is to create an ecosystem which is sustainable – economically, socially and environmentally. Our focus is that once we attain a certain milestone, we will also go ahead with products to achieve personal solutions for people. 

What’s the TG that you are targeting in India and the key markets? What are some of the issues still with electric mobility that you would like to address?
Our focus has been three-wheelers. The Treo is available with 150 dealers across 70 cities in India. Over the last few years, we have been bringing the Treo to multiple locations. Initially, we worked very closely with the state and Central Government and the Central Government has said that no permit is needed for electric and alternate fuel vehicles. While it took time with the State Government, today we don’t need a permit in states like Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, etc. People are slowly understanding the value of electric mobility. This, we believe, will be a revolution in India. The story of India to the globe is the three-wheeler. India is the biggest market for two- and three-wheelers. If India has to showcase something great in electric mobility, it will come from the two- and three-wheeler segment. 

Also, if we change fleet vehicles to electric, the impact on society and the country will be much higher. Hence, we will be able to provide products that can be charged and run quickly with good cost of operations. The last penetration would be on personalised cars, which will take a long time. Before that, we are also looking and producing electric buses. That’s the sequence that I feel electric mobility will follow. 

What are the further measures you expect from the Government in the Union Budget 2020-21?
Indian states and government have worked very closely on the policy for electric vehicles. It follows a very clear policy and is not just fiscal – whether it is the green number plates, the waiving off of road tax and registration charges. Everything they are doing is the best potential and I don’t think we need anything more. All we need is to implicate those policies quickly in every state and locations to propagate electric mobility.