Government policies to combat rising pollution in India is driving Tata to shift its focus toward electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. Tata who also owns Land Rover and Jaguar is
now working on partial hybrids and fully-electric systems for its
future range of passenger and commercial vehicles, despite Tata’s
reliance on diesel-powered models. Tata has been in experimentation with
EV’s for some years; programs included the Vista EV program in the UK.
The company is also commissioning a battery assembly pilot line in Pune
as part of this realigned strategy. The first Tata Electric Vehicles
is expected to be the Tata MegaPixel REEV (Range Extended Electric
Vehicle) rumored to be launched late 2016.
On December the 6th Tata completed
the first phase as the winner of the historic tender to deliver 10,000
EVs to the Indian Government. As per the requirement of the tender Tata
delivered 250 Tigor EVs
which will be followed by a further 100 units shortly. Tata Chairman,
Mr. N. Chandrasekaran waved off the first Tigor EV from the production
line at the plant in Sanand. Recently released specs of the Tata Tigor
indicates that the EV will have a range of around 100km at a price of Rs
11.2 lakh. The Indian Government is expected to list a second tender in
2018 opening up the possibility for foreign automakers to compete in
the Indian market.
Indian automaker Tata
and city-based Jayem Automotives joined forces to revitalize the
loss-making Tata Nano with an electric powertrain. The Tata Nano EV will
be branded under the NEO brand. Electra EV (Electrodrive Powertrain
Solutions Private Limited) will provide the powertrain, Tata
will supply the components, assembly and distribution will be done by
Jayem Auto. The Tata Nano EV had some failed starts since 2010. The
4-seat 48-volt NEO Nano with its 17kW electric motor has a range of
200km (ARAI test cycle) or 150km with its aircon on. The NEO Nano is
expected to be released soon but will at first only be available to
Indian raid-hailing company, Ola Cabs.
In September the Indian Government’s Energy Efficiency Services Limited
(EESL) awarded the world’s biggest EV tender of 10,000 EVs to Tata
Motors. India’s other big carmaker, Mahindra & Mahindra, got a
concession allocation to deliver 3,000 of the total 10,000 units. The
tender to replace the Indian Government’s fleet of petrol and diesel
vehicles over the next four years is to kickstart the Indian EV sector
to reach its ambitious goal to get the country off fossil fuels and 100%
EV based by 2030. Tata will supply its Tigo EV, and Mahindra is
expected to include its KUV100 Crossover EV which is expected in 2018.
According to the Financial Express
sources, this week said that the EESL is preparing a second even bigger
tender of 20,000 vehicles early in 2018. Speculation is that
international EV manufacturers could get a slice of the pie to further
develop the Indian EV sector through this new tender. The value of the
tender is expected to be in the region of Rs2,300 crore (~$350 million),
which equate to $17,500 per vehicle.
After losing a tender to supply the Indian government with electric vehicles to Tata, Mahindra and Mahindra amped
up its investment in the sector by earmarking $600 million (Rs 4,000
crore) over the next three to five years. The investment will be in four
parts, namely:
Tata Motors of India joined the UK’s autonomous drive testing project, named ‘UK Autodrive.’ The UK Autodrive program is conducted in Milton Keyes and Coventry and includes other automakers active in the UK market, including Tata, Jaguar Land Rover, and Ford. Tata is using its Tiago vehicle in the trials.
This week saw the announcement of four new EV models by Audi, DS Auto, Tata Motors and Hyundai. The four brands will release electrified versions of existing model ranges as they rush to enter the market. Tata Motors will
enter the India market with an electric version of the Tata Tiago
hatchback. The Tiago will be Tata’s first production EV. In 2015 the
market speculated that the Indian company was to bring the Tata Megapixel to
market in 2016 as its first EV but market conditions did not favor EVs
at the time. The Indian Government has since embarked on a drive to
change to 100% EV in 2030.
Bloomber reported that the JSW Group’s owner and Chairman, Sajjan Jindal, announced in Davos, Switzerland his intention to enter the Indian Electric Vehicle
market by 2020. The metals tycoon expects the Indian government, like
many other governments, will promote EVs once it’s more affordable.
Although India has some large automakers such as Tata and Mahindra, which is a contender in the Formula E Series, the country is significantly lagging its neighbor China, the world’s largest EV market. India had only around 6,000 electric vehicles registered at the end of 2015.
The Daily Telegraph reported
that Jaguar Land Rover is expected to introduce its first electric
vehicle as early as the coming week during the Los Angeles Auto Show.
The Tata-owned
company is expected to launch a Crossover vehicle to enter the
fast-growing electric car segment and to comply with ever increasing
regulations to lower its emissions. Although a latecomer to the market, Jaguar is clearly eager to enter the sector and signaled its intentions by entering a team in Formula E series earlier this year.
Tata Electric Vehicles
Tata Electric Car Strategy in the news
2017 Week 49 Tata delivers first Tigor to Government
2017 Week 47 Tata Nano comes to life, finally
2017 Week 45 India to follow the world’s biggest EV tender with an even bigger tender in 2018
2017 Week 40 Tata win forces Mahindra to dig deaper
2017 Week 34 Tata joins UK self-driving program
2017 Week 24 New EVs Announced
2017 Week 3 Indian tycoon announces his interest in an electric vehicle for India
2016 Week 45 Jaguar developing crossover electric vehicle
Top 5 EV News Week 29 2020
Top 5 EV News Week 29 2020: Two worlds – Chinese EV investor hardship vs USA EV Investor frenzy. Nissan Ariya, Workhorse C1000 and Buick Velite 7.
Top 5 EV News Week 28 2020
Top 5 EV News Week 28 2020: It has been a busy week in the EV market. I look at nine new models from this week.
Top 5 EV News Week 27 2020
In this week’s Top 5 EV news | BYD launch Tang in Europe | Volta Electric Truck pilot | Byton bites the dust