New Delhi: Homegrown auto major Tata Motors expects to launch the electric version of its small commercial vehicles ‘soon’ to tap the opportunity of electrification of the last mile transportation segment, a senior company official said on Thursday.
Besides leveraging synergies from the passenger vehicles business unit of the company, Tata Motors’ commercial vehicles unit has been working in coordination with a few e-commerce players to develop its electric small commercial vehicles (SCVs) for last-mile transportation.
The push for electrification in the last mile is coming from the significant advantage of operating cost that an electric vehicle has over the conventional version, Tata Motors Executive Director Girish Wagh told PTI.
Moreover, stricter emission regulations have pushed up the cost of diesel SCVs, and at the same time with the lowering of the cost of batteries, the price gap between the diesel SCV and the electric counterpart is gradually coming down, he added.
“But third, and most importantly, I would say, which is driving electrification (of SCVs) today is more about many of these e-commerce companies, which have their net zero-emission targets. They want net-zero emissions in their operation and therefore are looking at a respectable electric vehicle for last-mile transportation.
“That’s where we have been engaging with quite a few e-commerce players. It is almost like a co-development, I would say. We have been continuously taking their inputs. Development is underway for last-mile electric vehicles,” Wagh said.
When asked about the timeline for the launch of the electric SCVs, he said “soon” without specifying details.
On synergies drawn from the passenger vehicles units of the company for the EV, Wagh said, “We do have a good amount of synergies at the backend in terms of electric vehicles, especially SCVs. Since both are battery electric vehicles, the technology is quite similar. In fact, the battery packaging in small commercial vehicles is easier as compared to cars. So, the form factor is not so much of a challenge”.
As for bigger and heavy commercial vehicles, Wagh said, “Most likely the country may move towards a fuel cell electric”.
On competition in the last mile transportation segment, including those coming from start-up electric three-wheeler makers, he said, “In the last mile, the competitive intensity has been increasing. Here, we also compete with three-wheelers as well as four-wheelers”.
To overcome the challenge, he said the company has been focussing on widening its product range and becoming relevant to more and more end-use applications.
The company has taken product actions like launching the petrol version of its mini truck ACE that “actually ensures that the price of the vehicle is same as what it was in the BS-IV era” as the diesel variant prices have gone up significantly after the transition to BS-VI, Wagh said, adding Tata Motors has also introduced the CNG version of ACE.
Tata Motors has also introduced new variants of its mini truck Intra and Yodha pick up vehicles.
“So, our first attack is going to be with widening the product range,” he said, adding the second one would be to widen the service reach as customers of SCVs don’t prefer to travel long distances for servicing their vehicles.
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