Mahindra & Mahindra has roped in Dr. Uli Stuhec, as the vice-president and head, Global Born Electric Platform. Mahindra had consolidated of its e-mobility business in two focused verticals: Last Mile Mobility (LMM) and Electric Vehicle Tech Centre.
The company had also announced the ambitious Born Electric Vehicle (BEV), which is said to be an important strategy for the company to attain leadership by creating world-class e-SUVs.
Dr Stuhec will be part of the Electric Vehicle Tech Centre, at Mahindra North American Technical Centre, Detroit, which will drive the vision of ‘higher electrification and creating electric vehicle products and technology’. Dr. Stuhec, will be responsible for planning and executing the BEV product development strategy in line with customer requirements. He will lead BEV vehicle program – BEV architecture and development of BEV platform strategy in collaboration with MRV Chennai.
Dr. Stuhec will report to Pankaj Sonalkar, chief of Electric Vehicle Technology Centre. Samir Rawte, the current chief platform head of EV in Indai will report to both Dr. Stuhec and Senthur Pandian, chief platform and delivery head for all PV platforms.
The progress of the BEV project will be reviewed by a steering committee, which will include Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director, Auto & Farm Sectors at Mahindra Group; Pankaj Sonalkar, Veejay Nakra, CEO – Automotive, Mahindra and R Velusamy, Chief of Global Product Development, Automotive Division.
Earlier to joining Mahindra, Dr. Stuhec was the VP of Vehicle Engineering at May Mobility, a Michigan-based autonomous vehicle start-up. He led the launch of the autonomous shuttles in Texas and Japan. He has also worked with Streetscooter – part of the Deustche Post DHL Group, which is one of the world’s largest electric delivery truck manufacturer. Dr. Stuhec also had an extensive stint of 17-years in various roles with Ford Motor Co.