Tata Motors, which had set a record by bagging the world’s largest e-car order from Energy Efficiency Services (EESL) last month, said it will make money from each unit it will sell to the government body, in sharp contrast to Mahindra, which had said it was stumped by the winning price.
The EESL order for 10,000 electric sedans is the single-largest in the world and Tata Motors, which has no e- car product so far, must begin delivery of the first batch of 500 cars by November 30, as reported by TOI.
Tata Motors said it will be selling the electric version of its popular sedan Tigor to EESL. The car will be rolled form its Sanand plant on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
Tata Motors had bid for Rs 11.2 lakh including annual maintenance contract, which was Rs 2.3 lakh lower than M&M’s bid. Tatas also offered a substantially lower running cost of Rs 0.25/km compared to Rs 1.35/km by M&M.
“We will be making enough money from each of the units that we will be selling to EESL. As of now, we will be selling 6,500-7,000 units and if the other company (Mahindra) opts out we will lap up the rest of the order as well,” Guenter Butschek, MD & CEO of Tata Motors said.
When asked whether they will be able to meet the delivery deadline of November 30 for the first phase of 500 orders, of which Tata Motors will be selling 350 and M&M the remaining 150 units, Butschek answered in the positive.
In sharp contract, it can be noted that days after agreeing to match Tata Motors’ order, Pawan Goenka, managing director of M&M, had said they would lose money on every unit of its fully electric sedans it had committed to supply to EESL and that he was stumped by the rival’s pricing.
The EESL contract will be executed in phases and the first phase involves 500 cars. Tata Motors had initially opted for 250 cars but increased it to 350 after M&M chose only 150.
According to EESL tender, the sedan should have a range of 130 km on a full charge, can be fully charged in 6 hrs and should have a fast charge option of 90 minutes.
