Tata Motors and a joint venture between Hyderabad-based Goldstone Infratech and China’s biggest e-vehicles seller BYD have bagged electric bus supply contracts for nine out of 10 cities, leaving rivals such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Eicher Motors and JBM Solaris empty handed.
Competition termed some of the winning bids as unviable, saying that the two players quoted nearly 30 percent lower than the market price. The winners exuded confidence though. The development revs up the e-vehicle market in the country.
Goldstone Infratech’s joint venture with Warren Buffett-backed BYD, which is described by many as China’s Tesla, bagged contracts of Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad to supply 290 electric buses.
Tata Motors emerged the lowest bidder for contracts in six cities — Jaipur, Indore, Lucknow, Kolkata, Jammu and Guwahati — to supply 190 e-buses. Ashok Leyland bagged contract for 40 e-buses in Ahmedabad. The 10 cities called tenders in the last two months in a pilot programme partly funded by the central department of heavy industries.
Delhi is yet to come out with a tender to procure 700 e-buses using state budget, people familiar with the development told ET.
The government is encouraging e-vehicles with its Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) scheme, which provides 60 percent subsidy to cities to procure e-vehicles either as outright purchase or on supply-operate basis.
Given the different tender conditions in the 10 cities, there was a huge variation in prices discovered under both models, sources said.
Tata Motors placed the lowest bid of Rs 77 lakh per bus for a 40-bus outright purchase contract placed by West Bengal Transport Corp for Kolkata. The company placed bids varying between Rs 77 lakh and Rs 99 lakh for different models. “The price quoted by Tata Motors is an unviable number for many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs),” said an executive in one of the auto making firms.
“The Rs 77 lakh bid was a desperate attempt from the company after they lost to Goldstone-BYD in Karnataka,” the person alleged, speaking on condition of anonymity.
At current market rates, similar models could cost between Rs 1.2 crore to Rs 1.7 crore, depending on specifications, industry insiders said. Girish Wagh, president of commercial vehicle business at Tata Motors, however, said the company has a clear line of sight of profitability and remains committed to invest in the sector. He said Tata Motors has been investing extensively in research and development of electric vehicles for past decade.
