Mahle has just announced its entry into the promising market for electric two and three-wheelers in India. To this end, the supplier has increased its stake in the former joint venture Mahle Letrika Roots India from 50 to 90 per cent.
What is now called Mahle Electric Drives India, is based in Coimbatore in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The company will initially concentrate on the development and production of electric traction motors and control units for electric two and three-wheelers. Production is already set to begin in April 2020.
The increase in the shareholding in Mahle Electric Drives India comes at a strategically favourable time: in summer 2019, the Indian government announced its plans for a comprehensive subsidy program to drive electric mobility forward in India. For Mahle, this opens up new opportunities for further sustainable growth a country whose population (1.339 billion) is only slightly lower than that of China (1.386 billion). Not only that, but India is the world’s biggest market for two and three-wheelers.
Mahle is developing vehicles that best suit mass markets worldwide: two and three-wheelers that use less energy (and battery materials) per trip than even a small car. Mahle has not given further details about which kind of two and three-wheelers it will be manufacturing. However, these kinds of vehicles have the potential to be less dependent on grids and charging infrastructure if battery-swapping systems are adopted, as rapidly growing newcomer Gogoro has found out.
Although not as famous to the general public as the carmaking giants such as Volkswagen or Daimler, you find Mahle products are in at least every second vehicle worldwide. Components and systems from Mahle are also used off the road—in stationary applications, for mobile machinery, rail transport, as well as marine applications, making the company less vulnerable to fluctuations in the personal car market.