India’s second largest passenger EV maker, MG Motors with a 16 percent market share in India’s fast-growing electric vehicle market is looking to strengthen its EV Portfolio with the launch of six new EVs based on a brand-new GM-based platform at the Auto Expo.
The new offerings will have multiple top hats from SUVs to sedans to hatchbacks to help MG emerge as a full-service EV player from its single offering of MG ZS EV
The Halol-based passenger car maker will open doors to its 10 lakh priced two-door electric vehicle based on the China-spec Wuling – MG EV Air in the first week of January which will also be part of its Auto Expo range.
Sources say production of the new model is reportedly to commence in March 2023. The new entry-level compact EV is expected to feature a battery pack of around 20-25kWh and will offer power close to 40bhp and a real-world range of around 150km on a single charge.
In conversation with Sheldon Santwan,Editor EVStory.in, Gaurav Gupta, Chief Commercial Officer of MG Motor India, shares his perspective on the company’s initiatives to promote the cause of sustainability and progress of MG’s Electric Vehicles and adoption.
Can you share the roadmap for MG Motors’ future rollout plan? If I’m not incorrect you will be unveiling the MG EV first and then the future lineup at the Auto Expo?
I can tell you this that we have a very exciting time ahead of us, as we want to play a strategic role in India’s move towards decarborization and move towards clean mobility. Our first step will as you rightly pointed out will be MG EV Air which will address the need of urban commuters looking to travel to their workplaces or daily needs for which this serves the best purpose. I’m sure around the Auto Expo we will share more details about the new products and their role in MG’s larger India play for EVs.
MG also has been the first mover in the CASE Space what do you think are your achievements as you look back?
We are committed to boosting sustainable mobility, which is in line with our vision of CASE (Connected, Autonomous, Shared, and Electric). We have been spearheading the EV revolution in India since 2020 with our ZS EV, which is the country’s first pure electric internet SUV.
Within 2 years ZS EV has covered around 355,42,963 km which eventually saves 70 lakh kgs of CO2 emission. MG aims to target approximately 2 lakh MT of CO2 saving over 15 years which is equal to planting more than 13 lakh trees.
Can you share your other efforts to develop the EV ecosystem?
To support the growth of EV charging infrastructure in India, we have launched the MG Charge program, under which we aim to install 1,000 EV charging points in residential areas of different cities across the country.
At MG, we firmly believe in sustainable solutions to be the future of the mobility landscape in India, which is why we have entered into strategic partnerships in a bid to propel the creation of an end-to-end sustainable mobility ecosystem in the country.
We also joined hands with Castrol and Jio-bp to provide EV users with easy access to vehicle service assistance and the location of nearby charging points.
Our collaboration with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) was yet another step toward boosting the adoption of EVs in the country by promoting intercity travel through the installation of free-of-cost charging stations across highways and within the cities.
On similar lines, we offer 6-way charging infrastructure and have partnered with different companies like Tata Power, Fortum, Delta, eChargeBays, Exicom and Electreefi to further boost the charging infrastructure.
India’s startup community is brimming with innovations and ideas that can be part of the disruptive technology that EVs can bring to everyday consumers’ needs and create a unique niche. Can you share how you are working with Start-Ups?
Our fourth season of MG Developer Program & Grant focuses on expanding the innovation platform for start-ups, developers, and innovators. This will provide innovative insights into areas such as charging infrastructure, fleet management, electric components, electric batteries, green energy solutions, EV battery life cycle management, connected car solutions, and BaaS, but it will also enable the development of new applications and experiences across the entire EV ecosystem.
How is MG Nurture working on its path to developing Industry-Academia partnerships?
Our commitment to a sustainable future extends to promoting research in the electric mobility segment. Our initiative, MG Nurture, aims to bring the industry and academia together for the ideation and development of new solutions in the electric and autonomous vehicles space.
We have partnered with several prominent educational institutions for the same, including IIT Delhi. Recently, we developed and launched an EV certification program in association with RV College of Engineering, Bangalore. The program is aimed at providing immersive and experiential learning opportunities to the students today who will become the industry leaders of tomorrow.
EV batteries need to be recycled. What steps have you taken to address to battery recycling?
At MG, we are also mindful, and take a long-term view of our EV operations, by addressing the issues of battery afterlife and recycling. Ensuring end-to-end sustainability for electric vehicles is something we are passionate about at MG. Since battery waste is a challenge for sustainable mobility, we believe battery recycling is the optimum way of bridging this void. We look forward to doing more work in this space to create sustainable, end-to-end solutions that will help us drive radical impact. There are various players that we work with in the field of battery recycling such as Attero, Umicore and TES AMM.
In partnership with Attero, we created a system for responsible recycling of the Li-ion batteries used in EVs after their end of life. We successfully recycled MG’s first EV battery and the metal extracts and various other commodities from the recycling process can be used to develop new batteries. There are more opportunities in the second life and after-life usage for lithium-ion batteries as well.We are proactively developing the ecosystem with like-minded partners in all spheres. It is a very evolving field and we want to be in the forefront of this evolution, including reskilling the ground force of sales, service, technicians, etc.
