Mahindra & Mahindra, an Indian conglomerate and the owner of South Korean carmaker SsangYong Motor, will jointly develop rechargeable batteries to accelerate its electric vehicle business, the company said Monday evening.

“LG Chem will develop a unique cell exclusively for India application and also supply lithium-ion based on nickel-manganese-cobalt chemistry with high energy density,” Mahindra said in a statement.

The battery cells will be deployed in electric vehicles to be manufactured by Mahindra and SsangYong.



The partnership, which is valid for seven years, will “jointly support the EV revolution in India.”

Backed by a strong government push, India will have only electric vehicles in the market by 2030.

In preparation of the state-led plan, Mahindra is planning a battery module plant to have a capacity of half a million battery modules per annum. It will also house a battery module pack line. Both will start production in the fourth quarter of 2020, it added.

In an interview with The Korea Herald last year, Pawan Goenka, managing director of Mahindra Group and the chairman of SsangYong’s board, said it was in talks with a South Korean battery supplier to jointly develop batteries both for SsangYong and Mahindra.

Its South Korean car making unit, SsangYong, plans to launch a fully electric SUV in 2020.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)