Tata Power and Tata Motors join forces to set up fast-charging EV stations across India

It is a partnership which was in the offing, given the mutually beneficial synergies. Tata Group companies Tata Power and Tata Motors have announced their partnership to install 300 fast charging stations across key five cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad – by the end of FY2020.

Today, both companies inaugurated their first seven charging stations in Pune, to enable e-mobility drive in the city. Over the next two months, 45 more chargers will be installed across the other four cities. These chargers will be installed at Tata Motors dealerships, certain Tata Group retail outlets and other public locations.

The chargers will be operated by Tata Power and adhere to Bharat Standard (15 kW) for the initial 50 chargers. Going forward, there will also be charging stations that will adhere to 30-50 kW DC CCS2 Standard. These chargers can be accessed by any EV user, having cars compatible to the above charging standards. Tata Power and Tata Motors say they have jointly developed an attractive charging tariff for Tata Motors EV customers.

According to Praveer Sinha, MD and CEO, Tata Power, said, “We are committed to making India EV-ready in line with the government’s ambition of providing green technology solutions and the Tata Group’s vision of reducing India’s carbon footprint. Our aim is to make EV charging as fast and easy as possible for all Indians and we are very pleased to partner with Tata Motors, with whom we jointly identified high priority locations which could be preferred by the potential EV owners.”

Commenting on the collaboration, Guenter Butschek, CEO and MD, Tata Motors, said, “We are happy to partner with Tata Power for taking the first step in developing ubiquitous EV charging infrastructure in India. This partnership is an important milestone in our journey to offer complete ecosystem solutions and offer peace of mind to our customers. We remain committed to the sustainable mobility mission and will continue to work towards bringing aspirational e-mobility solutions for the customers, leading the drive towards faster adoption of electric vehicles in the country.”

Tata Motors to launch 4 new EVs in the next 18 months
Following the new EV-friendly announcements made by the government in the Union Budget 2019 and and the slashing of GST on EVs to 5 percent, Tata Motors is reworking its EV stategy.

While the reworked strategy takes shape, four models are being lined up to enter the electric mobility market over the next 12-18 months. Currently, Tata Motors has only one model, the E-Tigor, in this space. A new E-Tigor with a 180km driving range (40km more than the current one) is part of the four new offerings. An electric version of the Nexon compact SUV will debut in early January, followed by the electric version of the to-be-launched premium hatchback Altroz, and another model. Some of the models could also have a driving range of 250km or so.

Tata Power, which is India’s largest integrated power company, currently has an EV infrastructure presence in Mumbai of 42 charging points and its mobility infrastructure footprint is in multiple cities including Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi with a total of 85 charging points set up across various usage scenarios. The company has signed landmark MoUs for setting up commercial scale EV charging stations at HPCL, IOCL, and IGL retail outlets. The company also partnered with Tata Motors earlier to support the Maharashtra government’s in promoting e-mobility by setting up public EV charging stations.

With renewable energy assets in solar and wind accounting for 30% of the company's portfolio, Tata Power is a leader in clean energy generation. In line with the company's view on sustainable and clean energy development, Tata Power is steering the transformation of utilities to integrated solutions by looking at new business growth in EV charging & storage, distributed generation & rooftops, microgrids and home automation & smart meters.

Also read: Tata Power bets on partnerships to set up EV charging infra

Interview with Tata Technologies' Anand Bhade: ‘EVs have changed the way we travel and the way we build vehicles.’