MUMBAI: India’s Formula E team Mahindra Racing CEO Dilbagh Gill said that the electric car racing series is the ideal ‘marketing platform bringing the brand to new markets’, CNN reports.
On the sidelines of the Geneva MotorShow, Gill claims that its entry into the tournament resonates with the larger vision of its parent company, Mahindra & Mahindra to solve pollution problems in India that arise from traditional modes of transport. According to a Greenpeace and AirVisual study, the country has seven of the world’s top 10 polluted cities.
With the launch of its latest electric supercar Battista, the company has added another feather its cap to make 25% of its total fleet of cars eco-friendly by the end of next year. The CEO is confident that 60,000 units of production will be dedicated to electric cars by then, which is a 12 times rise from the ongoing 5,000.
The company’s resolve is strengthening following the purchase of Reva in 2013 in the cars category and more recently, USA’s GenZe in the electric bikes and scooters category.
While the industry and the car racing series still have a long way to go, Mahindra is bullish considering the Indian government’s mission to sell only electric cars in the country by 2030. Road cars are just one part of the grand plan.
“Electric vehicles are still in their infancy, and India is a large market, one of the largest in the world. We realize the efficiency of electric vehicles and commercial vehicles.
“Okay, it may not be sexy but we’re looking at the whole electric vehicle industry be that trucks coming in and out of cities causing pollution problems to buses and tuktuks,” Gill was quoted as saying to CNN.
Gill opines that it can spread the message of the power of green in the industry much more due to Formula E’s increasing relevance. Mahindra is keen to use the technology in its racing cars to the ones on the road.
While comparing Formula E with Formula 1, he estimates that transferring technology from an F1 car to a road car takes nearly five years. The process with a Formula car takes just 18 months.
Mahindra Racing had seen a 1% improvement in efficiency in their third season on track only though software improvements, after achieving an efficiency rate of 93% from before.
“The tech from a racing car, you’re seeing that on a road car,” Gill added.
“We’re delivering that so much more to a road car than F1.”
The company and racing team are always in touch by sharing business intelligence with regular trips made between the former’s operational base in India and the latter’s headquarters in the United Kingdom.
