Mahindra drives in BE 6e at ₹18.90 lakh, XEV 9e at ₹21.90 lakh

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) on Tuesday launched two new “born-electric” cars, the BE 6e and the XEV 9e, at prices starting from ₹18.9 lakh (ex-showroom) and ₹21.9 lakh, respectively. Deliveries of these electric SUVs will begin by the end of February 2025.

Both new electric vehicles are based on the INGLO platform which offers options for two battery packs – 59 kilowatt hour and 79 kWh. The automaker, however, has revealed prices only for the 59 kWh battery pack. It will announce prices for the 79 kWh battery pack later. M&M will start shipping these SUVs to dealers in the latter part of January 2025.

The BE 6e, which competes with other EVs in the mid-size SUV segment including Tata Motors’ Curvv.ev, offers a claimed range of 684 kilometres (ARAI certified) for the soon-to-be-launched 79 kWh battery pack variant. The ARAI-certified range for BE 6e SUV's 59 kWh battery pack trim is 556 km. The XEV 9e offers a claimed range of 656 km for the 79 kWh trim and 542 km for the 59 kWh battery pack variant.

Mahindra says its new EVs (59 kWh battery) can be fast-charged from 20% to 80% in 20 minutes with the help of a 140 kW DC charger. The 79 kWh trims can also be charged from 20% state of charge to 80% SOC in 20 minutes with a 175 kW fast charger. These EVs provide 2C fast charging rate for the first time for any mass-market EV in India. The carmaker has been able to achieve this with BYD's blade cells which offer cell-to-pack technology without the need of putting cells in modules.

M&M is offering AC wall charger with 11 kW and 7.2 kW options. The 59 kWh battery pack of the BE 6e and the XEV 9e can be charged from 0-100% in 6 hours with an 11 kW charger and 8.7 hours with a 7.2 kW charger. The 79 kWh pack can be charged from 0-100% in 8 hours with an 11 kW charger and 11.7 hours with a a 7.2 kW charger.

Mahindra is offering a "lifetime battery warranty" for both 79 kWh and 59 kWh battery packs for first-registered owners. In case of ownership change, warranty on high voltage battery will be 10 years or 200,000 km, whichever is earlier from the first-ever date of delivery of the vehicle.

In terms of acceleration, Mahindra says the BE 6e goes from 0-100 km/h in 6.7 seconds, making it the fastest car by an Indian manufacturer, while the XEV 9e takes 6.8 seconds. The EVs come equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 chipset and offer features such as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Autopark.

Mahindra is looking at a production capacity of 10,000 units for its new EVs. ₹4,500 crore is the allocated investment out of the total ₹16,000 crore investment in the F22-F27 cycle which includes powertrain development, two product top hats including software and tech and manufacturing capacity, the automaker says.

Veejay Nakra, president - Automotive Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and Joint Managing Director, Mahindra Electric Automobile Limited, says the electric origin SUVs will set new global benchmarks.