Girish Waghm, Managing Director and CEO of Tata Motors Ltd, stated that the company forecasts continued strong demand for its electric commercial vehicles (CVs), which will keep growing due to a large volume of orders across all segments.
He also informed analysts that the supply chain bottleneck related to cells imported from China, which affected Intra EV, will be completely resolved by the end of the current quarter.
Waghm noted that the prospects for electric vehicle demand are very positive. In the first quarter of the fiscal year, Tata Motors received over 3400 orders for electric commercial vehicles across various segments, continuing the momentum observed in the second half of last year.
Furthermore, Waghm mentioned that new tenders are expected under the PM-eBus Sewa program, which gives the company optimism. He emphasized that small commercial electric vehicles (SCVs) in the retail segment are performing very well.
According to Waghm, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) parity of the Intra and Ace Pro models compared to their Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) counterparts has become highly attractive, ensuring sustained demand growth.
Commenting on Tata Motors' production capacity for supplying electric vehicles, especially Intra EV, he clarified that internal capacity is not the issue. The problem arose from the increased demand for EVs, leading to a higher need for cells from China, as well as the growing share of EVs even within China. This caused a cell shortage, resulting in significantly extended waiting times for cells in India and their conversion into batteries.
Nevertheless, Waghm added that since the company placed large orders about two months ago, the supply bottleneck is expected to be fully eliminated by the end of this quarter from a demand perspective.
In the first quarter of the 27th fiscal year, the company recorded an increase in electric SCVs by more than fourfold, reaching approximately 3200 units, and also received over 850 orders for electric buses.