Bharat Forge, the Pune-based multinational with a presence across automotive, power, oil and gas, construction and mining, rail, marine and aerospace, is betting big on the push towards electric vehicles. The company announced today, the opening of its new research and development (R&D) facility in the MIRA Technology Park, UK, which it says is a leading automotive technology park and enterprise zone.

The company says the new centre will focus on the development of components and sub-systems for electric vehicles.  The facility will complement the capabilities and knowledge established over the past two years at the Kalyani Centre for Technology and Innovation (KCTI) and Kalyani Centre for Manufacturing Innovation (KCMI) in Pune, which focused on delivering solutions for EVs.

Bharat Forge says its new centre will leverage their extensive testing facilities at the technology park and tap into the engineering talent pool in the Midlands.

Amit Kalyani, executive director, Bharat Forge, said: “Several large OEMs and Tier 1 companies are already present at MIRA Technology Park for development and testing of vehicles and systems in the EV space. The infrastructure and knowledge available would only help hasten the development of BFL and reduce our time to entry in this important market space.”

Terry Spall, commercial director, MIRA Technology Park, said: “This growing number of globally-recognised automotive business is testament to the benefit of working in a technology cluster, with access to extensive facilities and the ability for our tenants to engage with many of the world’s global OEMs on their doorstep.”