Tata Motors will explore opportunities such as better supply chain security after the Tata Group unveiled the chip manufacturing plant in Assam last week, said Shailesh Chandra, MD, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicle and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd. Businesses Today on the sidelines of the launch of Tata Curvv.ev.
« In future, we will explore the possibility of collaboration between the two companies (Tata Motors and Tata Group). This will help us improve the security of Tata Motors’ supply chain, » Chandra said.
Tata Motors, the country’s largest electric vehicle maker, launched Curvv.ev on August 7 at a starting price of Rs 17.49 lakhs. The electric vehicle is available in two battery packs – 45 kWh (kilowatt hour) and 55 kWh (kilowatt hour). With the launch of Curvv.ev, Tata Motors aims to disrupt the mid-range SUV segment.
Explaining the rationale behind the pricing, Chandra said the rationale behind launching Curvv.ev was a combination of a longer range car that overcomes the need for charging infrastructure for intercity travel.
“Price was just one aspect. The most important thing was to address the remaining barriers that prevent buyers from buying electric vehicles. One of the biggest issues was range anxiety and lack of charging infrastructure. You can have a slightly lower range, but then you need charging infrastructure… On top of that, we wanted to ensure price parity. Just having price parity is not going to solve the problem,” Chandra said, adding that the company could have reduced prices by keeping the battery size smaller, but that wouldn’t have solved the problem.
With a 45 kWh and 55 kWh battery, the company claims a range of 514 km and 585 km respectively on a single charge. Chandra observes that in the future, more products will have higher range and price parity with internal combustion engine models. “Over time, as more cars are launched, as the price of batteries comes down, as localisation brings down the cost, etc., yes, we will be able to offer cars with higher capacity as well, so that will be the way forward,” Chandra said.
On the tariff reductions on critical minerals like lithium and nickel, Chandra said there would be no immediate impact on the EV industry. “I see this as a long-term direction for the EV industry. It is a signal to the cell manufacturer as to what kind of support the government is willing to provide. Right now, cell manufacturing has not started yet. It will come through PLI (production linked incentive scheme) and ACC (advanced chemistry cell), and you have so many projects going on, so these companies will benefit. So structurally, it is an effort by the government to make cell manufacturing super competitive compared to other places, where it is manufactured very cost-effectively. So there is no immediate benefit that you will see… In the long term, it will definitely help in reducing the cost structure for the cell manufacturing industry,” Chandra said.