Tatas building EV ecosystem to boost sales

PUNE: Tata Motors, India’s biggest automaker by revenue, has an ambitious plan to sell more electric cars for which it is preparing to make batteries, set up charging stations across cities and build a battery recycling plant.

Though the Union government is pushing automakers to shift to electric vehicles (EVs)., some are resisting the move, saying the charging infrastructure needs to be set up first and battery costs are too high to make and sell affordable electric cars.

But six Tata companies—Tata Motors, Tata Chemicals, Tata Power, Tata Autocomp, TCS and Tata Croma—are pooling resources and expertise to build an electric vehicle ecosystem to make electric cars, officials told media in Mumbai on Tuesday.

“This is the launch of an ecosystem, which is the real need, not just another vehicle launch,” Guenter Butschek, managing director at Tata Motors told reporters.

Tata Power, which has set up 100 charging stations in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad, will add another 300 by the end of March 2020.

“By 2021, we plan to add 650 more charging stations in more than 20 major cities across the country to boost electric car sales,” Shailesh Chandra, president - e-mobility business & corporate strategy at Tata Motors told Financial Chronicle.

He said all stations will support fast charging and will be linked to a mobile application, which has been developed with Tata Consultancy Services for payments and to check the availability of chargers.

The auto major is also working with Tata Autocomp for the localisation of battery pack assembly and motor assembly.

Tata will also use its chain of Croma stores to display digitally its EVs.

Tata Motors on Tuesday launched the Nexon EV, priced starting at Rs 13.99 lakh, which is one of four electric car models the firm plans to launch over the next two years.