The Mumbai-based company will launch one or two electric vehicles every year to have a portfolio of 10 such vehicles before 2025.
Nexon EV – 5
Tata Motors is looking to raise capital for its electric vehicle (EV) business to fuel its ambitious target of generating one-fourth of its sales from EVs in the medium to long term, N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Motors said at the 76th annual general meeting.
The Mumbai-based company will launch one or two electric vehicles every year to have a portfolio of 10 such vehicles before 2025. Chandrasekaran did not elaborate the scale of investments Tata Motors is planning to do in the EV business unit but mentioned that the company has lined up a capital expenditure of Rs 3,000-Rs 3,500 crore for FY22.
“We have a very ambitious goal for electric vehicles. From the current 2 percent we have planned to have at least 25 percent of our sales coming from EVs in the medium to long term. We will be launching at least 10 models before 2025. Towards this we will also do a capital raise for EV segment alone at the appropriate time,” Chandrasekaran said.
Tata Motors has a lion’s share of the electric passenger vehicle market of India. Powered by the Nexon EV, Tata Motors controls 77 percent of the domestic EV market. Since its launch in early 2020, the Nexon EV has seen sales of more than 4000 units of the Nexon EV.
Tata Motors has a strong orderbook for the Nexon EV extending to 14-16 weeks, the company had informed recently. During Q1FY22 the Nexon EV saw sales of 1715 units, the highest in a quarter since launch. Demand for the electric version of the Tata Nexon is now on par with the diesel variant of the SUV in markets such as Maharashtra and Gujarat where the electric model is available.
Tata Motors will also look at launching more affordable EVs in the future compared to the Nexon EV whose prices start at Rs 14 lakh. This is in addition to plans to launching EVs for the last mile application like an electric version of the Tata Ace or similar vehicle. These mini trucks are targeted at intra-city commercial purposes.
“We will be launching the Tigor EV with a higher range in FY22 and we will also be looking at more affordable EVs in the future. We don’t have definitive dates to announce about that today,” Chandrasekaran added.
Tata Motors is also working with group company Tata Power to set up charging stations across the country. Chandrasekaran added that Tata Motors is expanding its charging infrastructure to at least 25 cities and goal is to have at least 10,000 charging stations in the coming years.
Swaraj Baggonkar
