Mahindra has taken the wraps off its new EV manufacturing facility, which is situated within the brand’s 2.83km2 (28,30,000m2) Chakan manufacturing hub. The Indian SUV specialist has allocated Rs 4,500 crore of the total Rs 16,000 crore investment planned in the F22-F27 investment cycle for this 88,000m² EV-only factory.
- New Mahindra EV facility to produce BE 6 and XEV 9e
- Over 500 robots used in body shop; real-time monitoring from ‘Nerve Center’
- Claimed to be one of the world’s most compact battery manufacturing lines
The facility – which will produce the Mahindra BE 6 and XEV 9e SUVs, along with other upcoming born-EVs from the brand like the XEV 7e – is said to be a fully integrated, highly automated manufacturing ecosystem that uses over 1,000 robots and multiple automated transfer systems. Included in the plant is a fully automated press shop, an AI-driven body shop that is said to use over 500 robots, and robotic paint shops. The plant also has what Mahindra calls an ‘Internet of Things (IoT)-based Nerve Center’, which monitors the facility real time to pick out insights and have end-to-end traceability.
The battery assembly section is fully automated, and is said to be one of the world’s most compact battery manufacturing lines, employing patented processes and lean module assembly (which are meant to simplify the manufacturing flow and eliminate or reduce anything that slows down the production process). Along with the production, storage and transfer of batteries, this section is also claimed to perform multi-layered end-of-line testing simulating real-world conditions.
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