Tata Motors will consider launching electric commercial vehicles in the near future, before launching the same products that use traditional fuels, as the company looks to step on the EV accelerator with a host of products.

The commercial vehicle (CV) division of the Mumbai-based Tata Motors today showcased the electric version of the Ace mini truck which it plans to commercially launch in the ensuing quarter. The Ace EV will be the maiden electric launch by Tata Motors in the cargo category.

Besides the ‘EV-first’ product approach, Tata Motors is also evaluating the need for a born-electric platform which essentially means that the CV models will be developed specifically for electric application only.  

Speaking to BusinessLine, Girish Wagh, Executive Director, Tata Motors said, “We will continuously evaluate the requirements in the EV space. In commercial vehicles the limitations on form factor are very low and the physical space available for battery packaging is quite high. From that perspective, we will keep evaluating the need to go for completely ‘born electric’. We may have products which may come first in EV before being launched in ICE.”

No scope to re-engineer

Since existing products of Tata Motors were developed to run on internal combustion engines the scope to re-engineer them for converting them to fully electric are therefore limited. Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, the new passenger vehicle electric company carved out of Tata Motors, is working on born-electric vehicle architecture which will debut in 2025.

Tata Motors is the largest CV player in India having a portfolio, stretching from the Ace to a 55-tonne goods carrier and Ace Magic multi-seater passenger vehicle to a 54-seater bus. Tata Motors is the biggest manufacturer and supplier of electric buses, having won the lion’s share of the nearly 5,500 electric bus orders from CESL.

“When we decided to embark on this EV journey we also identified the technologies, architecture, modules and aggregates that will give us the flexibility to come out with more variants. It will give us the agility to enter into the market with a product which can satisfy a particular need because here it’s about launching a solution that addresses the barriers to EV adoption to make economic sense,” Wagh added.

Semiconductor challenge

The launch plan of the Ace EV coincides with a worsening supply chain crisis due to the semiconductor shortage. Vehicle makers are struggling to increase production due to shortage of chips required to carry out some basic and some advanced features in a vehicle. 

“We have a near-war room like approach with regards to the semiconductor supplies. We have implemented quite a few actions like reducing the number of semiconductors, using an alternate one where the supply chain is guaranteed. These have helped us to de-bottleneck,” Wagh added.

Wagh further added that the challenge is not just about chips but also about establishing the supply chain for batteries as well as the other electric power-train aggregates. “We will revisit some of our capacity plans to see how fast we can deliver on this order,” he said further.