Tatas in talks with electric vehicle motor companies  ( July '25,2005, HBL)

TATA Motors is in talks with various electric vehicle motor manufacturing companies to have them set shop in India so that motors for electric vehicles could be available at lower costs. This in turn would drive down the manufacturing costs.

Moreover, the company plans to have its concept prototypes ready for hybrid cars and hybrid buses over the next six months. The company is working on a fuel cell bus, the prototype of which would be ready over the next one-and-a-half to two years.

"We are working on the prototypes for hybrid cars (Indica and Indigo) and buses. They are expected to be ready over the next six months," Tata Motors General Manager (Electricals & Electronics), Mr V.G. Gujrathi, has said. He was addressing a workshop on `Technology Priorities for Electric Vehicles' organised by the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC).

Pointing out that there is a need to bring down the cost of electric motors to encourage usage of electric vehicles, he said, "Importing the motors of electric vehicles escalates the cost to a major extent making it impossible to be an economically feasible option for Indian consumers. We are in talks with some companies and asking them to set shop in India." Later, while speaking to Business Line, Mr Gujrathi declined to divulge the names of companies with which Tata Motors is in talks.

Apart from bringing down the motor prices, improving battery technology and making easy finance schemes available for electric cars are other issues to be taken care of, pointed out experts.

"We need to work towards reducing the cost of motors of electric vehicles. One of the ways could possibly be combining resources (of various companies) within the country," said Mr Chetan Kumar Maini, Deputy Chairman & Chief Technology Officer, Reva Electric Car Company.

He also stressed on the need to have battery-charging centres in place.

Senior official from Scooters India, Mr H.S. Sikka, also called for easy financing schemes for purchasing electric vehicles, for batteries and for putting charging infrastructure in place if the country has to encourage electric vehicles. Over 700 electric vehicles (three wheelers) developed by Scooters India are plying in various cities including Agra, Delhi, Lucknow and Pune, he added.

TIFAC Executive Director Prof Anand Patwardhan said that TIFAC would bring out a report that would list out the kind of intervention required to promote electric vehicles.