Tag: electric vehicle

China’s Li Auto delays pure electric SUV launch due to insufficient fast charging network

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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China’s Li Auto said it has postponed plans to launch pure electric SUV models to next year, citing hurdles such as a lack of enough fast chargers, sending its shares down more than 17% on Tuesday.

The decision comes as Li Auto, which has built its profits and success on four extended-range gas electric hybrid models, has also encountered a setback with its first fully electric model Mega that didn’t meet its original expectation of sales.

“Enough charging stations and enough incremental display spots (in our retail shops) are two critical and necessary conditions for selling our BEV SUV product,” chief executive Li Xiang told an earnings call late on Monday, referring to battery-powered EVs.

Li Auto had previously planned to unveil three electric SUVs this year and Li said his nine-year-old company wouldn’t launch any electric SUV model until the first half of next year.

Li Auto had pinned its hopes on the Mega MPV that touts a streamlined bullet-style shape to outsell any model priced above 500,000 yuan ($69,000) in China. The company delivered more than 3,000 units of Mega in March, while analysts had expected monthly sales of 8,000 units.

Also Read: China’s EV makers taking longer to pay bills amid rising stress

“The company has lowered its priority for 2024 profitability but has been focusing on laying a more solid foundation for BEV’s success after the wrong expectation on the Mega,” China Merchants Bank International analyst Shi Ji said in a note.

The company reported a 37% fall in first quarter profit, which Li said was below his expectation at the beginning of the year.

The investments required to build EV infrastructure, on which its peers such as Tesla and Nio have extensively spent, could weigh on Li Auto’s profitability, analysts said.

Li Auto had installed more than 400 fast charging stations in China by mid-May. By contrast, Tesla has nearly 2,000 Supercharging stations in the country, while Nio has more than 2,200 fast charging stations and 2,415 battery swapping stations available for its EV users for rapid power up.

Also Read: Indian govt likely to tweak new EV manufacturing policy and focus on greenfield investment

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Xiaomi moves ahead with Tesla-like SUV as first EV hits goals

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Xiaomi Corp. aims to begin making and selling a sport utility vehicle similar to Tesla Inc.’s Model Y as early as 2025, embarking on a major new expansion with production of its debut SU7 electric car set to reach about a 100,000 units this year.

Xiaomi is approaching full initial capacity and is working now to increase output to accommodate demand, people familiar with the matter said. The company benchmarked its envisioned SUV against Tesla’s during development, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private project.

An SUV would mark a big expansion of Xiaomi’s $10 billion EV endeavour, spearheaded personally by billionaire co-founder Lei Jun. The company is trying to reduce its reliance on a volatile smartphone market dominated globally by Apple Inc., though with EVs it’s getting into a crowded arena and taking on established rivals Tesla and BYD Co.

It’s unclear what specifications and pricing Xiaomi envisions for the SUV — a type of vehicle gaining in popularity across China. The company’s plans for production, first reported by local media outlet Yicai, could also shift depending on how it progresses on capacity, the people added. Representatives for Xiaomi didn’t respond to emails and a phone call seeking comment.

Discussions about an SUV began as far back as when Lei announced in 2021 that EVs represented his final major entrepreneurial effort, one of the people said. But the company eventually decided to move first on the SU7, a $30,000-plus sedan with a design aesthetic similar to Tesla’s Model 3 and the Porsche Taycan.

Xiaomi doesn’t anticipate the SUV going into mass production until late 2025 at the earliest, when it completes construction on a second phase of its assembly factory in Beijing, said one of the people. For now, it’s prioritizing production of the SU7 as it only has the capacity to make fewer than 10,000 deliveries a month, the person said.

Xiaomi, which gets more than 60% of its revenue from smartphones, has been trying to diversify in part because of sluggish device demand in its home market.

Yet it joins scores of players vying for a slice of the Chinese EV market — the world’s largest, but one where margins have compressed as Tesla and BYD lead a price war during a period of slowing growth. Apple nixed its own long-incubating EV project after failing to overcome challenges in adapting its technological expertise to a new field of manufacturing.

Xiaomi’s SU7 series received close to 90,000 confirmed orders as of the end of April — about a month after the debut in late March. Xiaomi’s stock has risen some 30% since the SU7’s debut and is now close to its highest level in about two and a half years.

Its EV business could break even in 2026 — two years ahead of a previous estimate — because of improving capacity and a positive market reception for premium models, HSBC Qianhai Securities’ analysts Frank He and Steven Wang wrote in a memo last week.

They expect the company to more than double shipments to 240,000 units in 2025. “The capacity bottleneck will start to ease in the third quarter of 2024,” they wrote.

Also Read: Platinum’s shortage to persist as EV slowdown fuels demand

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

IGL hopes new geographical areas will aid volumes in FY25

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indraprastha Gas (IGL) is working to grow volumes in the current financial year by expanding to newer geographies.

The company’s Managing Director Kamal Kishore Chatiwal also expects compressed natural gas (CNG) conversions to pick up during the year and this will help compensate volumes lost to electric vehicles (EVs).

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Kishore also discussed the company’s outlook for FY25.

Kishore expects the volumes to be around 9.5 million metric standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd) in April-March 2024-25.

“We gave an exit guidance of around 9 million but achieved 8.73 in the last quarter. Full year it was 8.43. So next year, it will be 9.5 million per day, that is our guidance, slightly 2 to 3% lower than our estimate. The major reason has been declining volumes of DTC due to EV conversion,” he said.

He pointed out that the Delhi government wants to move more vehicles to EVs.

Also Read | IGL Q4 results: Indraprastha Gas net profit at ?382.8 crore; declares 250% final dividend

IGL’s net profit grew 16% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis to ₹383 crore in the January-March quarter.

The market capitalisation of Indraprastha Gas is around ₹31,780.04 crore. Its shares have gained close to 14% in the past six months.

For the entire interview, watch the accompanying video

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Castrol India MD explains why data centres are a big opportunity

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Lubricant manufacturer Castrol India sees data centres as a big opportunity.

“Globally, Castrol has called out data centre thermal management as one of the places where we want to participate,” said Sandeep Sangwan, MD, Castrol India in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

Recognising the need for advanced cooling solutions in rapidly expanding data centres, Castrol is leveraging its expertise in fluid technology to innovate in this new domain.

Sangwan believes data centres will become huge consumers of energy in the future and they will need that efficiency for processes to operate at much higher speeds and capacities.

Castrol has set up a research and development (R&D) centre at its global headquarters in the UK, where Castrol BP is investing about 15 million pounds.

This facility is part of a strategic expansion to explore and enhance thermal management technologies that can improve efficiency and reduce environmental impacts.

“We have proof of concepts and we are working with some of the data centres now in terms of bringing that technology to commercial use,” he said.

The company has also launched Castrol EV fluids.

“Electric vehicles (EVs) sales on the passenger vehicles (PVs) are growing at a good clip but the volumes are still very small. But we supply to two of the biggest original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the car segment. So we will see that business scale up but it will take another 5-6 years before it becomes of any material scale,” Sangwan said.

Also Read | Indus Towers Q4 Results: Profit jumps 33% to ₹1,853 crore, revenue up 7% to ₹7,193 crore

While the competitive intensity will increase, as technology improves, consumer vehicle (CV) demand gets better and better.

“We have seen a lot of competitive intensity. It will increase but in the end, it will be good for customers and consumers to get better quality products at the right value,” he said.

On April 30, the company reported a 6.8% year-on-year (YoY) increase in net profit at ₹216.2 crore for the first quarter that ended March 31, 2024, as the company follows the January to December financial year.

The volume growth was 6% in the first quarter of the calendar year 2024. For the full year, he expects volumes to grow a few points higher than the industry average of 5%.

Also Read | IndiaMART declares dividend of ₹20 per share, net profit zooms 79% in Q4

The company was able to hold the margins at 22%. “We will operate in the range of 22-25%,” he said.

The current market share of the company is about 21%.

Last quarter, the company announced its brand ambassadorship with Shah Rukh Khan and its tie-ups with Mumbai Indians.

“We have been doing a lot of activity on Pragati Ki Paathshaala and we continue extending our reach into rural India. We reached about 33,500 outlets now and also in multi-brand workshops,” he said.

“I am confident of the growth coming through. We saw volume growth coming in Q1 and we are also investing in our brand so all to play for,” he added.

The category is growing and Castrol wants to be ahead of category growth by a few points.

The company saw some slowdown in the agriculture sector. However, two-wheelers and passenger vehicles (PVs) are doing well.

The current market capitalisation of the company is ₹20,717 crore.

For more, watch the accompanying video

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Maruti Suzuki likely to begin mass production of EVs for India in FY26: RC Bhargava

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Maruti Suzuki India will likely begin mass production of electric vehicles (EVs) for the Indian market only in FY26 (April-March 2025-26), said RC Bhargava, Chairman of the country’s largest passenger car maker.

In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, Bhargava said the company’s best-ever sales performance is being driven largely by the sport utility vehicle (SUV) segment as “it will be a while before the entry-level segment revives”.

He does not foresee the need to raise product prices this year given the cost-cut initiatives are working in their favour. However, Bhargava feels it is “futile to try and predict margins in such uncertain times.”

Below are the excerpts of the conversation:

Q: Could you just run us through the performance across segments? Where have you seen the maximum strength, where have you seen pick up and what do you expect for FY25?

A: In the last two years what has been happening is that the SUV segment has been the fastest growing segment. The bulk of our growth has also come from that segment, whether in numbers, topline or profits.

The entry-level segment has not revived, in fact, it has gone down a bit. I think it will take maybe a couple of years more before we see any movement there.

Q: As we start a new financial year, what is your expectation for the SUV segment? Is it expected to remain as strong as it has been last year?

A: The trend will continue this year at least with the SUV segment leading the entire sales of cars in India. I don’t think there is any reason to think that there will be a change in consumer thinking or behaviour regarding what they want in this segment.

As I said the entry-level segment, the small car segment buyers are still not coming back to the car market. Amongst those who buy cars in the more expensive brackets, the sedans fundamentally are losing ground to the SUVs and I don’t see this trend changing.

Q: Could you tell us what Maruti’s plans, and ambitions are on EV side in FY25?

A: FY24-FY25 we are not going to have very much in the way of electric cars at all. The plan is to start production towards the end of this financial year and mass production follows a little bit after the start of production. Also, I believe the commitment is that the bulk of the first lot of production will be exported to Europe. So, the domestic market will get electric cars in numbers from Maruti only after April 2025.

Also Read | Maruti Suzuki will have to offer more discounts, says analyst after Q4 results miss estimates

Q: Commodity prices have moved higher recently, and forecasts show that across the board, commodities will remain pretty strong. Is the market strong enough to take price increases as and when it is required? What’s your sense? Can you improve on these margins? The Street in the fourth quarter was expecting a margin of about 13.5%. Will the direction of travel be in that 13% plus kind of range?

A: It is still not very clear what is going to happen to commodity prices. Some items are going up, but some items are not going up, they are still coming down. What the net result will be, I think you will have to wait a bit longer to see the impact of the Iran-Israel situation, and what happens to China.

If electric car sales continue to fall the world over, the total car market will come down globally. This will mean less demand for various materials and that could also have an impact on material prices. If the Yen continues to weaken against the dollar, it always helps us in terms of material costs. Other factors which are important are that as a company, we have to continue our efforts to reduce costs everywhere.

Also Read | Maruti Suzuki declares dividend of Rs 125 per share, the highest-ever in its history

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Tata Motors partners with HARMAN Ignite Store to power its integrated in-vehicle app store for its EVs

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Tata Motors has partnered with the HARMAN Ignite Store as its in-vehicle app store, which will get easily accessible. reliable and mobility expereinces to more customers across a new geographical region, the latter said in a statement.

HARMAN is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electornics.

With this new partnership, the HARMAN Ignite Store will power the automaker’s Arcade.ev, its recently launched built-in app suite availabile in the Nexon EV and Punch EV. The list of appes will be continuously extended. THe initial content partners include Gaana, Jio Saavn, Jio Pages, TuneIn Radio, DASH Radio, Beach Buggy, Trebble FM, video apps, and more, the company said.

Jens Beckmann, Senior Director of HARMAN Ignite Store at HARMAN International, said the company was delighted to collaborate with Tata Motors and bring India its first integrated in=vehicle app store.

Meanwhile, Anand Kulkani, Chief Product Officer for EV at Tata Motors, said the company’s relationship with HARMAN allows it to keep consumers connected to the contant that is most important to them, while also deliverng experineces that enhance their device. “Our cusotmers want to bring their digital lives with them on the road, with HARMAN Ignite Store our new Nexon EV and Punch EV deliver that for them seamlessly,” he said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Renault’s robust EV prices, lower costs help offset demand dip

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Renault SA is benefiting from robust pricing and cost discipline amid continued demand for a range of models such as the electric Megane E-Tech, even as rivals suffer from a slower electric-vehicle market.

“We are sticking to a policy of stable prices,” Chief Financial Officer Thierry Pieton said Tuesday on a media call . “We have managed to lower costs by quite a bit — our new models come at a higher margin for us and at a lower price for our customers.”

The manufacturer is betting that a string of 10 new product launches this year, including the €25,000 ($26,632) all-electric Renault 5, will help draw more customers at a time some bigger rivals like Volkswagen AG are struggling. In March, sales of fully-electric cars in Europe slumped 11% with higher interest rates, weaker economic growth and the phasing out of generous subsidies contributing to the downturn.

The shares climbed as much as 1.9% in early trading before paring gains. The stock has gained more than 40% over the past year.

Pricing is encouraging and goes to show Renault’s “ability to offset currency headwinds,” Bernstein analyst Stephen Reitman wrote in a note.

Chief Executive Officer Luca de Meo earlier this year abandoned plans for the initial public offering of Renault’s software and EV arm Ampere amid Tesla Inc.’s price cuts and increased competition from Chinese manufacturers.

“The EV market is a bit slower than what had been anticipated two years ago but it’s still growing,” Pieton said during the call. “There’s a switch to electrification, no question.”

Renault Shares Outperform Peers on New Model Demand
Megane E-Tech vehicles keeps on providing access to new types of clients and 80% of those sold are with “big batteries and more powerful motor.” Half of the Austral models sold are with the higher ‘Esprit Alpine’ trim.

“People just want the attractive car, and the one that comes with a lot of the bells and whistles,” which also helps with profitability, the CFO said.

Renault, which loosened ties with long-time Japanese partner Nissan Motor Co. last year, has been holding talks with rivals including Volkswagen about sharing the cost of developing a platform for more affordable EVs.

Renault remains open to a partnership for the platform but has no news on the talks, Pieton said.

The automaker also is pooling its combustion-engine assets with China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Co. Closing of the powertrain joint venture is imminent, he said.

Group revenue in the first quarter rose slightly to €11.7 billion, the company said, exceeding analyst estimates of €11.4 billion. Renault confirmed its outlook for the year. The order book remains strong order book with 2.5 months of forward sales.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

How Tesla could reshape India’s EV market: experts weigh in

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Shirish Chandran, Editor of EVO India magazine believes the entry of Tesla will prove beneficial for the Indian electric vehicle (EV) market as it will help the market grow.

“…because they got to make so much noise in India, that will really give that whole impetus to the Indian electric car scene, and it will grow the market. Because the more players that come in, it’s better for everybody because there is more confidence, buyers get more confidence in electric vehicles and also it will offer something that is not really there,” Chandran told CNBC-TV18.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is also set to visit India on April 22. This visit comes just weeks after the Indian government announced a new electric vehicle manufacturing policy, which sweetened the deal for Musk to enter the Indian market.

According to a Reuters report, the US electric carmaker is already scouting for showroom locations in New Delhi and Mumbai, with plans to start sales in India later this year.

Gagan Sidhu, Director of CEEW-Centre for Energy Finance also shared his views on India’s transition to EVs, particularly in the four-wheeler space.

He believes there are two key reasons why four-wheelers have lagged two- and three-wheelers in the EV space: one is the fact that charging infrastructure is an issue and two, there are not enough vehicle models on offer.

Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview.

Q: Your thoughts on Tesla’s entry and how this would sort of change the dynamics of the EV market in India.

Sidhu: It can only be a good thing really at an early stage when it comes to India’s EV transition. Penetration has been growing, but it’s really not at the level, anywhere close to what the government visions it wants to achieve by 2030, which is about a 30% penetration on average. So you want the EV ecosystem to grow, you want new models to come in.

Remember India’s EV transition so far has actually been led on the volume side at least by two-wheelers, e-rickshaws and three-wheelers. It is the four-wheeler segment, which has lagged quite a bit. Some of it has to do with the fact that charging infrastructure is an issue. Some of it has also got to do with the fact that perhaps there is not enough model offering. So I think Tesla coming in can certainly add to the mix in terms of boosting the supply or the availability of the choices for consumers.

Read Here | Tesla scouts showroom locations in India ahead of plans to begin sales later this year: Sources

Q: EV adoption and passenger vehicles has been plateauing for the last many months, and the adoption is less than 2% at the moment. You spoke about two things, limited options as well as charging infrastructure issues. Let me add to that there is a pricing premium as well. EV cars are at the moment about 30-40% more expensive than an average petrol car in the same category. Do you think that is another hindrance and will Tesla be able to navigate all of these problems?

Sidhu: Pricing is certainly an issue and in fact, it is also important to bring up the topic of policy. There’s a host of policies actually that we tend to sort of not fit together and look holistically of have to drive or catalyse the ecosystem India. So to start with, for example, there’s a production-linked incentive not just for EVs, but for advanced automobiles. There’s FAME which actually sunsetted at the end of the previous financial year, just last month, but as a demand side measure there is an electric mobility promotion scheme just come in as a bit of an interim measure. This lowers GST on EVs 5%. There is state level policies on top of all this, so I think all of these things sort of work together in tandem, to inherently reverse the pricing disadvantage that electric vehicles face vis-à-vis internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.

Q: A couple of weeks ago, Tesla announced that for Q4 their numbers were weak. A couple of days ago, they decided to lay off 10% of their global workforce. This speaks a lot about how there could be a big global slowdown in the EV space. Is that just a blip or do you think it’s a structural slowdown and what do you think the ramifications of this could be on the Indian market?

Chandran: Not just Tesla, Mercedes also recently walked back from the goal towards 2030, all EVs. So they said that after 2030 also they are going to have combustion vehicles, maybe hybrid combustion vehicles. So globally, all manufacturers not just Tesla are seeing a slowdown in the EV space. But let us put it into perspective. Globally, EVs are at a more advanced adoption level. In India, we still have a long runway to go to get there. EVs are less than 2% of overall car sales in India. So we have a considerable runway.

India I think as a market is suitable for EVs, if you have your own parking space, if you can put your own charger, you are sorted, you don’t really have much issue in terms of range anxiety, and where you are going to charge it and all that. In fact, with an EV it is more convenient, you don’t have to go to a fuel station, you don’t have to line up for fuel, petrol or diesel or whatever. Also driving around in an EV in the city is actually much easier than driving a combustion vehicle. So here in India, if you don’t look at what’s going internationally, because Indian market dynamics are very different.

Also, the affordability levels in India are very different. With an EV, your charging costs are almost next to nothing, it costs less to run an EV than to use a local municipality transport bus. So your running costs are very low and Indians are very value-conscious. So I think there’s a long way we can go and there is space to grow, lots of space to grow in India.

Q: You were earlier telling us stories about the issues that the passenger vehicle space in the EV market are facing. Penetration is less than 2% and there are three main issues that we discussed with Gagan as well. Limited options in the EV market, a premium pricing. Most of these EVs are 30-40% more expensive and then range anxiety. Do you think we made any headway with the three of these issues and by when do you think penetration will reach about double digits, 10%?

Chandran: So let us start with cost, the more players come in, overall costs go down because they do a lot of local manufacturing and that’s going to help all of us so that’s one. Range anxiety, a lot of the OEMs say that it is over-indexed, and we tend to stress a little too much on range anxiety, if you have a charger and now suppose you are commuting in Mumbai with your home charger, you are fine. How many times do you go from Mumbai to Goa, once a year, twice a year, that time of course you have to plan it out you have to charge up completely maybe stop at some charging point, and then charge until you get to Goa. But the newer range EVs that are coming will have a real-world range of say 500 kilometres.

Also Read | Elon Musk set to meet PM Modi in a few days, may unveil Starlink’s India roadmap

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Tata Passenger Electric Mobility and Shell collaborate to establish EV charging stations across India

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd. (TPEM) signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Shell India Markets Private Limited (SIMPL) to collaborate in establishing public charging stations across India.

By leveraging their respective strengths and resources, the two entities aim to address key challenges such as range anxiety and charging accessibility, which have been barriers to the mass adoption of electric vehicles. The collaboration will leverage Shell’s widespread fuel station network and TPEM’s insights from over 1.4 lakh Tata EVs on Indian roads to set up chargers at locations frequently visited by Tata EV owners, the Tata Group subsidiary said in a statement.

TPEM, a trailblazer in India’s EV landscape and a Tata Group subsidiary commands a market share of 71% in the electric passenger vehicles space. TPEM introduced its first EV-exclusive store in Gurugram. It has also worked along with various charge point operators to grow India’s charging infrastructure. On the other hand, SIMPL, a subsidiary of the global energy giant Shell, boosts expertise in energy solutions and infrastructure development. Shell EV Recharge locations provide ultra-fast charging with a 98%-99% charger uptime.

Under this collaboration, TPEM and SIMPL envision the establishment of a robust network of public charging stations strategically located across urban centres, highways, and key transportation hubs. These charging stations will offer fast-charging capabilities, enabling EV users to recharge their vehicles conveniently and efficiently, thereby enhancing the overall EV ownership experience.

Under the partnership, the companies also aim to encourage more people to adopt electric vehicles in the country. TPEM said they will also look at introducing convenient payment systems and loyalty programs.

Also Read: Elon Musk confirms meet with PM Modi during India visit in April

The partnership is also expected to facilitate the integration of renewable energy sources into the charging infrastructure, further reinforcing the sustainability aspect of electric mobility. By harnessing clean energy sources such as solar and wind power, the charging stations can minimise their carbon footprint and contribute to India’s renewable energy goals.

Additionally, the collaboration between TPEM and SIMPL is poised to stimulate economic growth and job creation in the burgeoning EV sector. The establishment of charging infrastructure will generate employment opportunities in construction, maintenance, and operations, while also fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in related industries.

Furthermore, the partnership aligns with the Indian government’s ambitious targets and initiatives aimed at promoting electric mobility and reducing vehicular emissions. With the implementation of policies such as the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme and the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP), India is striving to accelerate the adoption of EVs and create an enabling ecosystem for sustainable transportation.

Also Read: Tata and HPCL to set up 5,000 EV charging stations across India by 2024

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow