Mahindra Forms Battery Tech Alliance with LG Chem

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. has partnered with LG Chem Ltd. to develop batteries for use in electric vehicles made in India and South Korea.

LG Chem will develop lithium-ion and high-energy-density NMC (nickel-manganese-cobalt) battery cells to be produced by Mahindra. The latter company plans to open a battery assembly plant in India in 2020 that will have capacity to make 500,000 batteries per year.

The factory’s output of both battery types will supply Mahindra’s EV unit, Mahindra Electric, and eventually the carmaker’s SsangYong Motor subsidiary in Korea. Mahindra is working with the unit to electrify some of its products with power systems supplied from India.

Mahindra is spending 9 billion rupees ($138 million) to expand its domestic EV production capacity to 5,000 vehicles per month from the current 400 units by 2022. The company presently makes all-electric hatchback, sedan, minivan and rickshaw models in low volumes.

EVs account for a microscopic 0.1% of India’s 3 million-car market. But last spring the country said it intends to switch to electric from piston-powered new vehicles by 2030. Forecasters Frost & Sullivan estimate the transition will put at least 2 million EVs on the road in India by then.