In line with its strategy to bank upon group strengths, Tata Motors has partnered with Tata Power to set up 300 fast charging stations for electric vehicles across Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad by end FY20. Tata Motors, which intends to roll out four electric cars in the coming quarters, clearly aims to prepare a decent ecosystem for its potential EV customers in the future.
The company today has inaugurated 7 electric car charging stations in Pune, and aims to set up another 45 across the other four cities over the next two months. The companies has chosen to install these charging stations at Tata Motors dealerships, Tata Group owned retail outlets such as Chroma stores, Star Bazar outlets, Titan watch showrooms among other public locations.
The chargers will be operated by Tata Power and will adhere to Bharat Standard (15 kW) for the initial 50 chargers, the two companies said in a joint announcement. The companies also plan to install charging stations that will adhere to 30-50 kW DC CCS2 standard.
Tata Motors aims to roll out its electric cars in 20-25 cities where it sees potential market. “We plan to launch electric vehicles and set up full ecosystem for our customers in markets where we see viability for those products. We are also working with Tata Power on home and office charging infrastructure, which we plan to roll out in the future for EVs,” Shailesh Chandra, president, electric mobility, Tata Motors told Mint.
The newly installed charging stations, said Chandra, can fully charge the electric Tata Tigor cars in 70-90 minutes. To promote EV adoption, the two companies said that while these EV charging stations can be used by the owners of electric cars of any other make, the Tata Motors EV customers can avail free charging for next three months.
Meanwhile, Ramesh Subramanyam, CFO & president, new businesses, Tata Power suggested that the timing and the EV charging network expansion will depend upon the city-specific EV product strategy of Tata Motors.
Tata Power’s existing EV charging network covers a total of 85 charging points including 42 in Mumbai. The company has also signed memorandum of understanding (MoUs) for setting up commercial EV charging stations at HPCL, IOCL, and IGL retail outlets.
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