Tata Motors Ramping Up EV Production To Ride Rising Demand

Indian automaker Tata Motors will ramp up its electric vehicles production as the supplies are not able to meet the skyrocketing demand and there is a huge backlog of bookings by the customers. At present, Tata Motors have Nexon EV, Tigor EV and XPRES-T electric vehicles for the Indian market and a coupe style SUV model will be launched in the next two years. The rise in demand looks sustainable despite high EV prices, thanks to fuel prices at all time highs.

Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director Passenger Vehicle and Electric Vehicles, Tata Motors, said in a media interaction that Tata Motors has been receiving an average of 5,500-6,000 bookings in the past two months for its electric vehicles range but the company is supplying just about 3,300-3,400 units. Hence, there is a sizable backlog of customer orders.

He said, “We are seeing that the demand is significantly outpacing the supply. The numbers are just the ones which we are able to supply, the demand is definitely much stronger which is reflected in the number of bookings with us.”

He also stated that Tata Motors is trying to ramp up the capacities by increasing the sourcing of semiconductors. For quick souring of the semiconductors, the company is modifying designs and ordering it from multiple vendors.

Chandra added, “These steps have allowed us to significantly ramp up production. Just seven months ago we were producing just 600 units but then such actions have helped us to increase it to 1,500-1,700 levels and then 3,000-3500 levels. This will continue.”

Tata Motors EV sales grew by five folds in the last financial year. This financial year too it aspires to grow in multiples and not in increments. The company believes that delays in supply ramp-up and ecosystem development could put some impediments to the growth of sales. Shailesh Chandra says that demand will go beyond the 30% mark.

According to the latest data released by Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), Tata Motors sold 15,198 units last fiscal as against 3,523 units in 2020-21. It captured a market share of more than 85.37% in passenger electric cars’ vertical. Its closest competitor in electric cars in the Indian market is MG Motor that sold about 11 per cent of the electric cars last fiscal. With market leader Maruti Suzuki still a couple of years away from launching it’s own EV, and strong no. 2 Hyundai having a token presence with the Kona, the emerging market has been ripe for early movers like Tata Motors to entrench itself.