Mahindra and Mahindra has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with e-mobility company REE Automotive to develop and manufacture electric commercial vehicles for global markets. The company says that this strategic collaboration will allow Mahindra to leverage REE's electric vehicle corner module and platform technology of integrating powertrain, suspension and steering components in the arch of a vehicle wheel. For its part, the home-grown utility vehicle maker will bring its design, engineering, sourcing capability and manufacturing assets, to the partnership. Mahindra also says that REE's architecture will enhance its capabilities in the electric vehicle sector.
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Commenting on the new partnership with REE, Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director (Auto and Farm Sectors), Mahindra & Mahindra said, "Our collaboration with REE has the potential to bring a disruptive approach to a new age of vehicles capitalizing on our respective strengths. The competitive advantages of REE's corner modular architecture with our experience in conventional vehicle system design, engineering, sourcing ecosystem and significant production capacity, provides a perfect match to deliver exciting zero-emission vehicles, including autonomous vehicles, that can meet customer needs as never before."
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Mahindra aims to leverage REE's electric vehicle corner module and platform technology from this partnership
Based on this collaboration, REE expects to fulfil its global customer need for 200,000-250,000 electric commercial vehicle units over a few years, while simultaneously addressing potential domestic and international volumes of Mahindra. The company says that it will subsequently scale production to support additional volume in the global as well as Indian market. REE's transformational technology is designed for both current, and future e-mobility applications, including autonomous vehicles. The platform offers significant benefits in terms of weight, space and total body design flexibility. Furthermore, the scalability of the platform makes it ideal for any form of an electric vehicle such as commercial vehicles, mid-duty delivery trucks, last-mile delivery, passenger cars, taxis and shuttles.
Daniel Barel, REE Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Mahindra's unique cost structure, design and engineering capabilities and volume flexibility will be key to our ability to address the majority of the commercial EV market with both large-volume vehicles as well as more targeted mission-specific vehicles."
