Tata Motors beats Mahindra, Nissan; wins bid to supply 10,000 electric vehicles for India govt

In August 2017, Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), a venture set up under Ministry of Power to facilitate implementation of energy efficiency projects, invited the tender bids for supplying electric vehicles (EV) for government departments. And Tata Motors has won the tender, beating all the bidders, in the world's largest EV procurement initiative. The EESL on Friday said that  the automaker would supply 10,000 electric vehicles for it.

According to EESL, Tata Motors was selected through an international competitive bidding. "Tata Motors won the tender and will now supply the electric vehicles (EVs) in two phases - first 500 e-cars will be supplied to EESL in November 2017 and the rest 9,500 EVs will be delivered in the second phase," the company under the Ministry of Power said in a statement.

The tender from EESL is the world's largest single electric vehicle procurement, reports IANS. Apart from Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, which runs dedicated EV sub-brand Mahindra Electric, and Nissan were on race. 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 comprehensive five-year warranty which is 25 percent below the current retail price of a similar e-car with a three-year warranty," the statement said. The initial lot EVs from Tata Motors will be exclusively used for government departments in Delhi and the National Capital Region.

EESL's plans to replace the fossil-fuelled cars used by government and its agencies over a 3-4 year period. In this mission, around five lakh cars need to be replaced.

Though Tata Motors has no EVs at present in India, the company with its wholly-owned UK-based subsidiary Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC) had unveiled Tiago EV concept earlier this month in the UK. Tiago EV utilises a liquid cooled 85kW drive motor developing 200Nm of torque driving front wheels through a single speed gearbox. The concept attains 0-100 kmph speed in less than 11 seconds and has a top speed of 135 kmph.