“Once you drive an EV, you cannot drive an ICE car”

Shailesh Chandra, president – electric mobility business & corporate strategy, Tata Motors Ltd. discusses all things electric

EVs shouldn’t cost more than 25 per cent over ICEs

"We set the price based on this research and you will see if you apply it for a lower segment car, you will not be able to give that much range. Otherwise you will have to double the price. So I can come with a hatch that sells for `4 lakh and do an electric car with a range of say 200km, at double the price. Does it make sense? No. So the Nexon EV was chosen after understanding boundary conditions or bringing the right balance of price, range and giving superior performance."

Altroz will be the next EV from Tata

"The Alpha Architecture was conceptualised for electrification, so the task becomes much easier and it gives us the opportunity to give some of the benefits or differentiation that you would expect in the interiors, flat floor kind of a structure."

We have no numbers in mind for electric vehicles

"It is a discovery phase for us. It is not only about the product, it is about the ecosystem comfort. There is a huge demand in the fleet for sure but we would be very selective in opening Nexon EV for the fleet segment."

GoI’s localisation requirement will make it cheaper than ICEs

"It says we have to meet a certain ex-factory price, which is around `15 lakh and localise those components to qualify for this incentive which is nearly 20 per cent of the price of the car which is nearly `3 lakh. That will make the Nexon EV cheaper than the diesel Nexon, within a span of three years but we don't want to do so."

Nexon EV will do about 225-250km in real world conditions

"I'm just basing it on different people in the company who have driven the car, it ranges anywhere between 240-260km. There are certain drivers who are experts and have got 270-275 so it totally depends on who is the driver and how best he is able to recover through the regen."

You will get a backup within 30-45mins

"A mobile charging service will be provided in Tier 1 cities. It will be generator based to start with then we will see how we transition. Hopefully we will not have to give service because there will be enough charging infrastructure coming in the next two years as the government has announced the subsidy plan, there are many startups and Tata Power is coming up in a big way in this area."

Tata Power will be entering the EV space soon

"When we launch the Nexon, they will setup infrastructure, depending on our market research. We've done strong consumer research in specific cities, in terms of where our target customers live, work and move, in the city. Basis that we have given this info to Tata Power, which will give maximum return on the investment that we will make. It will become visible to the potential targeted customers, because you have optimised it rather than spreading yourself in multiple places within the city. By now I would imagine that Tata Power has installed about 7080 fast chargers in these five cities."

250-300 fast chargers are coming up in Tier 1 cities

"Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune are the first cities to get the fast chargers from Tata Power. Next year they have even bigger plans, which we will declare later. Beyond Tata Power you have many startups including ESL that are planning to do a lot of work in this area. Because there is a subsidy scheme, there is a guideline which is already in place by the ministry of power. The smart cities have been defined and so are the highways so two years from now, range will not be a problem."