Abstract
The push for EV adoption by the Government of India has advocated the expiration of fossil fuel-powered vehicles beyond 2030. As the first mover in the Indian EV market, Mahindra has a leapfrog opportunity to develop home-grown EV and autonomous driving technology. This case study outlines an analysis of potential benefits of deploying a fleet of fully electric autonomous shuttles within the confines of Mahindra World City (MWC) campus to facilitate last mile transit services. The metrics for analysis are the technology, environmental and cost factors. Moreover, conventional public transit options and a hypothetical last-mile autonomous EV shuttle system are compared for transit between Mahindra Research Valley and strategic bases inside Mahindra World City for life cycle energy, emissions, total travel time, and travel costs. The benefits are manifold: Mahindra can develop EV & self-driving technology within MWC premises at a lower absolute and political cost since the traffic levels are under control even while serving as a realistic testing ground. The tentative results are tipping the balance in favor of deploying autonomous EVs within MWC, in the wake of government initiatives such as the FAME-India (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (hybrid &) Electric vehicles in India) scheme and the touted private firm investments for EV infrastructure.