Tata Motors seeks to ride the EV trend

Tata Motors has announced that its electric vehicles (EV) share could constitute 25%of the total passenger vehicle (PV) in the ‘medium to long term’. At the company’s 76th annual general N Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Motors told that company will declare its fundraising plan to expand the EV business. The EVs business at present is around 2% of the passenger vehicle sales.

“Tata Motors has a very ambitious goal for EVs. We have planned at least 25% of our total PV sales to come from electric in the medium to long term,” Chandrasekaran said.

“We will launch 10 EV models before 2025. We have aggressive growth plans, and towards this, we will also raise capital at an appropriate time. The company is also looking to set up a battery plant outside of Tata Motors,” he added.

The company plans to launch the e-Tigor with a higher range during the current financial year.

The company aims to target mass appeal by bringing more affordable vehicles. It believes this will play to their advantage as most of their competitors have their products for the premium target groups.

Tata Motors will also set up 10,000 charging points in 25 cities with Tata Power in the coming years. The company is also working on hydrogen and fuel cell technology.

It has seven hydrogen buses that are in the trial stage. Indian Oil Corp has given the first order for 15 buses, Chandrasekaran said.

“Within PV, the performance of the EV business is particularly noteworthy. We strengthened our market leadership to 71.4%, led by sales of more than 4,000 Nexon EV units since its launch last year,” he said. Tata Motors sold a total of 222,025 PV units in FY21, up 69% year-on-year. It was the only company in the PV segment to see such a significant jump in sales.