Tata to roll out small electric commercial vehicle this year
NEW DELHI: Tata Motors Ltd is working on its first small electric commercial vehicle (CV) based on its existing product Ace for a possible year-end launch, two people aware of its plans said.
The project is under way since 2018-19 and Tata Motors has consulted prospective customers, mostly e-commerce companies, for their requirements and desired vehicle dimensions, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity.
“The company is working on some products in the small and light commercial vehicle segment and quite a lot of work has already been done in the product development space,” one of the two people cited above said. “The electric cargo carrier space will have a lot of potential in the coming years and that’s why most likely customers have been consulted while developing the products. Ace will be the first one but there are multiple products lined up,” this person added.
Securing a foothold in the electric space is critical for India’s largest CV maker, especially since rival competitor Mahindra and Mahindra has already launched Treo Zor, an electric rickshaw. The small CV segment is expected to ride the coming electric wave as e-commerce companies like Amazon and Flipkart induct more EVs.
Jeff Bezos-led Amazon has already tied up with Mahindra Electric, M&M’s electric vehicle unit, to induct the Treo Zor. The Seattle-headquartered company plans to introduce 10,000 EVs in its Indian delivery fleet by 2025.
Meanwhile, Walmart-owned Flipkart has said it plans to introduce 25,000 EVs in its fleet. Other e-commerce players and food delivery startups are expected to follow suit.
“Tata Motors has major plans in the electric small commercial vehicle space starting with the Ace. The company also understands that demand for such vehicles will increase due to the reducing price gap between internal combustion engine vehicles and electric ones and pressure on e-commerce companies to shift their fleet to electric from the Union government,” the second person said.
Tata Group companies like Tata Power Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Chemicals Ltd and Tata Motors have been collaborating on development of electric vehicles related infrastructure. Tata Motors has already launched its first electric passenger vehicle Nexon.
The Mumbai-based company has also launched electric buses in various cities.