Tata bags record e-vehicle order

 CHENNAI: TATA Motors has bagged India's single largest order for electric vehicles, with staterun EESL announcing on Friday that it would procure 10,000 electric vehicles from the home-grown automobile major. The development comes after a hotly contested bidding process which saw several firms compete, including rivals Mahindra & Mahindra and Nissan.

According to the statement, Tata Motors will supply the electric vehicles (EVs) in two phases. The first phase will comprise 500 e-cars to be delivered in November 2017. The rest will be part of the second phase. "The tender floated by EESL is the world’s largest single electric vehicle procurement. Three leading manufacturers – Tata Motors Limited, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Nissan participated in the tender and the bids for Tata Motors Limited and Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) were opened," said the firm.

"Tata Motors quoted the lowest price of Rs 10.16 Lakh exclusive of GST in the competitive bidding. The vehicle will be provided to EESL for Rs 11.2 lakh, which will be inclusive of GST and a comprehensive five-year warranty which is 25 per cent below the current retail price of a similar e-car with a three-year warranty," it added. EESL is part of the government's push for greater electric mobility adoption. The firm will also identify a service provider agency in tandem with the procurement.

"This agency, also appointed through competitive bidding, will carry out end-to-end fleet management of the procured vehicles for the concerned government customer," EESL said. The public sector power firm will also be responsible for a variety of functions, including coordination between appointed agencies, monitoring and supervision, reporting, complaint redressal and payments.

India's electrice vehicle market is expected to grow exponentially over the next decade, reducing energy demand for the import dependent country substantially. A recent Niti Aayog report observed that making India's passenger mobility shared, electric, and connected can cut its energy demand by 64 per cent and carbon emissions by 37 per cent in 2030.