Tata Motors has an electric Ace up its sleeve

Tata Motors on Thursday launched the Ace EV, an electric version of the Ace small commercial vehicle (SCV) that the company has been selling in India for the past 17 years. With this, Tata Motors is hoping to grab a large slice of the electric last-mile cargo pie. The company also announced that it had signed an MoU with eight e-commerce and logistics companies to deliver 39,000 units.

This, in a way, would be Phase Two of Tata Motors' plans to introduce electric vehicles in the commercial vehicles segment. The company boasts of an experience of 34 million kilometres, with 645 electric buses deployed across nine cities. Tata Motors' latest move to launch an electric SCV is part of a larger game plan to be a leader in electric mobility. Tata Motors already has a strong demand for its Tigor and Nexon Passenger EVs — the company is receiving approximately 3,000 bookings per month for these models.

The company recently unveiled the electric SUV Curvv, and an electric concept, Avinya. Tata Power is looking to setup 10,000 charging stations across the country by 2025 and is also exploring the battery manufacturing and semi conductor manufacturing space.

Explaining why the Ace EV was the best option for the company's first foray into the last-mile cargo segment, Girish Wagh, Executive Director of Tata Motors, said, "We found this to be the perfect fit for the operating model of e-commerce companies. We have been working with e-commerce and logistics companies to fine-tune the product and tailor it to their needs."

Wagh further explained that in the near future, the company will focus on launching electric commercial vehicles which follow closed loop operations —travel a specified distance before returning to the point of origin.

Wagh said the company's focus will be on building more modular commercial vehicle products which can support alternate fuels, flex fuels, lithium ion batteries and hydrogen fuel vehicles. He said that the company does not need to allocate any additional capex for electric commercial vehicles or build additional capacity. "We may have to build capacity for power trains and traction motors," he said.

The Head of Tata Motors' Commercial Vehicles said demand had dropped by almost 50 percent in the last two years, due to transition from BS IV to BS VI emissions standards, and the pandemic. "The industry seems to be looking up and consumption is coming back. 2022-23 could be a good year for the commercial vehicle industry," said Wagh.

Tata Motors recently emerged as the L1 bidder for the CESL (Convergence Energy Services Limited) electric bus tender. The company would be deploying 5,450 electric buses across key metros on an own-and-operate basis.