Tata Motors' new EVs promise over 500 km range on a single charge

Tata Motors, leader in the passenger electric-vehicle (EV) market and which makes roughly one of every two passenger EVs sold in the country, has identified range as its biggest plank to fight competition.

 

Its new passenger EVs will go at least 500 km on a single charge, Shailesh Chandra, managing director, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, told Business Standard.

 

The company has taken early steps in this direction. It has launched a 45 kWh Nexon EV with a range of 489 km, much above its earlier 325 km.

 

The new Curvv has a 500-km range.

 

This has been made possible by declining global costs of battery cells for EVs.

 

“When we started, battery prices were upwards of $220-230 per kWh. Now they have dropped 50-60 per cent. There is a huge opportunity to expand the battery capacity at the same price,” Chandra said.

 

He, however, said this also presented a conundrum because the early customers of Tata Motors, which was the first mover in the passenger EV market, could feel let down.

 

“This gives us an opportunity to reduce prices for the same range, but that can be upsetting for our initial customers,” Chandra said. 

 

“This is a disadvantage of a first mover in a new tech world where one has to continuously update oneself. So, rather we have gone for increasing the range and features. At the same time, we have to adjust our prices also. We have been doing both,” Chandra added.

 

The upcoming electric Sierra and Harrier will cross 500 km in range.

 

The new Curvv is selling around 5,000 units a month, but Chandra said when the car was launched, all its variants were not available. Its ICE (internal combustion engine) and EV versions were not launched together. Moreover, there have been production constraints.

 

By mid-January Tata Motors expects to remove the bottlenecks in production to ensure a better supply of the Curvv. So far, the company has supplied more than 20,000 units of the Curvv, which, Chandra said, would take time to catch on as it is a new body style — a blend of sports utility vehicle and coupe.

 

A Mumbai-based analyst pointed out the Nexon and Curvv were cannibalising each other, for the time being.

 

“We expect volumes to decline 3-4 per cent in FY25. But FY25 onwards we estimate a 5 per cent growth rate in volumes for the next two years,” the analyst said, adding that Tata Motors needed to focus both on the ICE and EV segments.

 

Chandra agrees.

 

“We have been clear that both cylinders have to fire — ICE as well as EV. There was never a time when we focused more on one over the other, and this will continue. EV has its own journey and ICE has to thrive,” he added.