Mahindra eVerito Joins Meru Fleet In Hyderabad

Mahindra Electric and cab hailing service Meru have collaborated for a green commute pilot project in the city of Hyderabad. Beginning 22nd April, an unspecified number of Mahindra eVeritos will join Meru’s fleet in Hyderabad and help reduce pollution in the city without affecting people’s demand for personalised transport. If successful, the project will be replicated in other cities by Meru as they intend to replace most of their fleet with eco-friendly vehicles over the next 4 years.

While Mahindra Electric will benefit from the sale of the eVeritos to Meru and has a potentially large order awaiting if the pilot project is successful, it also helps the carmaker promote its brand to more consumers in Hyderabad. Meru will benefit from the ‘green’ image these eVeritos will bring with them, and the company also claims these will be more beneficial for drivers as their earnings will improve. These eVeritos will be part of the company’s regular fleet, available across the city of Hyderabad, including the Meru Zone at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

The Mahindra eVerito is the only all-electric sedan on sale in India as of now. Depending on the variant, the car has a claimed range of 110-140km on a single charge. This is not the first time Mahindra Electric has tied up with a cab service -- a fleet of e2o Plus is also part of Ola Cabs in Nagpur.

Check out the full press release below:

Mahindra Electric and Meru join hands to deploy Electric Vehicles

Launch EV pilot in Hyderabad

Hyderabad, 22 April 2018: On the occasion of Earth Day, Mahindra Electric, part of the diversified USD 19 billion Mahindra Group and Meru, the pioneer of tech-enabled cab services, today announced a collaboration for a pilot EV project in Hyderabad with the intention to replicate the same model in other cities soon. The pilot will see Meru deploy a fleet of eVeritos, the all-electric sedan by Mahindra.

Speaking on the collaboration Mahesh Babu, CEO Mahindra Electric said, “As pioneers of electric mobility, we at Mahindra Electric are happy to lead electric fleet adoption in India and are glad to partner with Meru for pilot deployment of eVeritos in Hyderabad. This is definitely going to make it easier for the city to adopt EV technology and will also be in line with our constant endeavour to make EVs more accessible to a larger urban population. We believe that innovative and unique partnership models like this pilot will lead the way towards sustainable transportation in urban cities. We are now looking forward to working with Meru to have this project rolled out to more cities.”

Speaking on the new initiative, Nilesh Sangoi, CEO, Meru said “Electric Vehicle ecosystem is growing at a rapid pace towards the inflection point where it would soon bridge the viability gap. EVs’ potential to bring down the air pollution levels and savings in country’s energy bills is unparalleled. Government is actively promoting adoption of EVs through National Electric Mobility Mission and other initiatives through various ministries. We are launching a pilot in Hyderabad with Mahindra eVerito sedan cars in association with AimGreen. Based on the learnings of this pilot, we will expand this initiative to induct more EVs in our network in other cities that we operate in. Over next 4 years, we intend to move a major part of our fleet to EVs. We believe that this initiative will greatly benefit the society, consumers and also enhance the earnings of our driver partners.”

The Mahindra eVerito will be available for booking in Hyderabad through Meru’s mobile apps, website (www.meru.in), call centre (4422-4422), and will also be available at the Meru Zone at Hyderabad airport. The services will be available at the same fare as governed by the Telangana Government’s radio taxi fares for sedans.

Mahindra Electric has been pioneering the EV movement in India for close to a decade, while Meru has been running their entire fleet on green fuel for the past 11 years in cities where CNG is available. Both organisations have been taking conscious steps towards environmentally friendly practices and this association is in sync with these philosophies.