M&M opens EV battery testing lab in Tamil Nadu, breaks ground on EV crash test facility

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is making speedy moves both on the electric vehicle front as well as developing new infrastructure. On July 31, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M K Stalin; Minister of Industries Dr. TRB Rajaa and top M&M executives including R Velusamy R, President, Automotive Technology & Product Development and Ms. Abanti Sankaranarayanan, Chief of Group Public Affairs, virtually inaugurated the company's EV battery testing facility and also laid the foundation stone of a crash test facility.

The Battery Test Lab in Mahindra Research Valley, Chengalpattu has been set up with an investment of Rs 210 crore and will employ over 1,000 people. The EV Crash Test laboratory and Batteary Prototyping Centre, being built with an investment of Rs 290 crore, is located in the Mahindra SUV Proving Track, SIPCOT Cheyyar Industrial Park.

The Mahindra Research Valley (MRV) R&D facility, set up in 2012, spans 125 acres in the Mahindra World City, Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu. It is the first R&D centre in the world where automobile and tractor product development is conducted under one roof. Additionally, Mahindra’s 454-acre test track in SIPCOT Cheyyar focusses on vehicle testing and validation, ride handling and other capabilities.

It may be recollected that on July 4, 2022, M&M and the government of Tamil Nadu had signed an MoU where the automaker had committed to make an additional investment of Rs 500 crore in a span of four years from April 2022 and would create employment for a minimum of 850 people.

Images: TN Guidance/Twitter