Tata Motors today has 250,000 EVs on the road—roughly 65% of India’s EV market—and together these cars have travelled 12 billion kilometres and saved 17 lakh tonnes of CO₂, equal to planting 80 million trees.
By T. Murrali
Tata Motors has reached a landmark moment in India’s electric-mobility story: more than 250,000 Tata EVs are now on the road, a milestone that shows how far both the company and the country have come. What makes this moment truly significant is not just the number, but what it represents — the shift of electric cars from the edges of the market to the heart of India’s mainstream, Mr. Shailesh Chandra, MD & CEO, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd., has said.
Addressing a roundtable yesterday, Mr. Chandra said, the OEM’s electric journey did not begin in a market ready for EVs. It began in 2018 with a pertinent question: can India shift to electric mobility when the ecosystem does not exist? At the time, there were no mass-market EVs, barely 200 public chargers, very high battery costs, low customer confidence and no supporting supply chain.
Buying a car is the second-most important decision for most Indian families, and in such a practical, value-conscious market, asking customers to choose a new technology at a higher price seemed impossible. Yet Tata Motors decided to take the first step, not because the market demanded it, but because the nation needed it.
Mitigating a slew of challenges
India’s fight against pollution, oil dependence and climate change needed zero-emission mobility. The government had laid out a bold plan—30% EV penetration by 2030—and backed it with tax benefits, incentives and a clear policy direction. Still, most industry players remained hesitant. The business case seemed unclear. That is when the Tata Group made a united decision to pioneer electric mobility, not with one company but with a collective ecosystem approach known as the Tata Universe.
Tata Power began building the early charging network, Tata AutoComp started localising EV components, Tata Elxsi and TCS worked on advanced software, and Tata Motors Finance helped early fleet adoption. At the centre of all of this was Tata Motors, carrying the responsibility of designing the electric vehicles themselves.
The starting point was the Indian consumer. Through a nationwide special study, the carmaker spoke to families across India. Customers explained that they would consider an EV only if it offered at least 200 kilometres of real range, simple and assured home charging, an 8-year battery warranty for peace of mind, and a price premium no higher than 20–25% over an ICE car.
With this clarity, Tata Motors built the Nexon.ev in a record 16 months. When it launched in January 2020, it became India’s first true mainstream EV. It delivered long range, premium features, a lifetime-like warranty, fast charging, a unique driving feel and, for the first time ever, a complete home-charger installation that made owning an EV feel like charging a smartphone, he said.
Early buyers became evangelists. Their confidence and word-of-mouth changed the category. Nexon.ev volumes grew from 300 a month to 3,000 a month. As India’s expectations evolved, the car evolved too—moving from 230+ kilometres real-world range to 375 kilometres certified range while closing the price gap with ICE. This year, it also became the first Indian EV to cross 100,000 cumulative sales.
Expanding Portfolio
But one car could not build a movement. Tata Motors widened its EV portfolio across segments—from the entry-level Tiago.ev, which costs less than the median car in India, to the high-performance Harrier.ev AWD, and the XPRES-T for fleets. At the same time, the company worked to break myths around EVs by sending EVs across the length of the country, testing them in harsh terrain and challenging water and rock obstacles to show customers that EVs were not fragile city toys.
The company also built India’s largest EV retail and service network—nearly 1,200 outlets, 600 service centres and more than 5,000 trained EV technicians—reaching customers in over 1,000 cities and towns. Parallelly, Tata AutoComp and global partners helped localise major EV components such as battery packs and motors, allowing India to reach more than 50% domestic value addition and giving birth to a new supply chain.
EV Ecosystem
Among the toughest challenges was public charging. At the start, the ecosystem suffered from the classic chicken-and-egg problem. Tata Motors approached it in phases, first working with Tata Power to seed the early network, then collaborating openly with all major charge-point operators to advise them on charging hotspots using Tata’s EV driving data, and finally launching Mega Charging Hubs with ultra-fast charging, TATA.ev Verified Chargers for reliability, and a customer helpdesk to assist EV owners during their journeys. Today, India has over 200,000 Tata home chargers, more than 20,000 public chargers aggregated through open collaboration, 4,000 community chargers and over 500 verified chargers—and every part of this ecosystem is open to all OEMs, he mentioned.
According to Mr. Chandra, the impact of this journey has been transformative. In six years, annual EV demand has grown from 2,000 to nearly 200,000 units. EV penetration has risen from almost zero to around 5% of national sales. More than 90% of national highways now have fast-charging coverage within 50 kilometres. Tata Motors today has 250,000 EVs on the road—roughly 65% of India’s EV market—and together these cars have travelled 12 billion kilometres and saved 17 lakh tonnes of CO2, equal to planting 80 million trees. Most importantly, the perception of EVs has changed. For 84% of Tata.ev owners, the EV has become the primary car at home. One in four are first-time car buyers. And over 50,000 EV owners have completed long intercity trips of more than 400 kilometres in the past year, Mr. Chandra pointed out.
Going Forward
As Tata Motors celebrates this milestone, it is already looking ahead. By 2026, the company will launch the Sierra EV, refresh the Punch.ev and introduce the premium Avinya range. By FY30, the OEM plans five new EV nameplates along with multiple updates for existing models. The company will also expand charging infrastructure to 10,00,000 charging points—including 100,000 public chargers—while building a circular ecosystem for repurposed batteries. A capex of ₹16,000–18,000 crore will support this long-term strategy, and Tata Motors expects to maintain a healthy 45–50% EV market share, even in a competitive landscape.
