Tata Motors has planned to commence production of electric vehicles at the Sanand plant, acquired from Ford India, from April this year, as per a top company official. Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd, a unit of Tata Motors, acquired the facility from Ford India for Rs 725.7 crore in January last year.
Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles MD Shailesh Chandra, said, “We are planning to commence electric vehicle production at Sanand with Nexon EV from April. The company is also looking to produce upcoming models at the facility.”
The company has already commenced production of internal combustion engine-powered versions of the Nexon at the manufacturing plant with an installed capacity of 3 lakh units per annum. It can be further scaled up to 4.2 lakh units per annum. When asked about the company’s product pipeline, he said that Curvv EV would be introduced around the second or third quarter of this calendar year.
“We are also hoping that by the fag-end of this year, we should also be able to introduce Harrier EV and internal combustion engine (ICE) version of Curvv. We have few launches planned, so will be targeting to grow better than the industry,” Chandra said.
According to his wish list for the budget, adding FAME incentives for personal electric vehicles will contribute to hastening the nation’s electrification drive. Chandra observed that states like Maharashtra and Gujarat saw a rise in the sales of electric vehicles when they provided incentives to consumers. “Also, there is a problem of inverted duty structure in EVs that is also something that we have been asking,” he said.
About talks on giving some concessions to a US-based EV major, Chandra said, “Our position is very simple that we are not worried about any specific competitor. Any player who is ready to participate in the EV space with upfront investment in localisation or charging infra development is welcome”. He further said, “We are not afraid of the competition…we are effectively dealing with the competition, all we seek is a level playing field”.